I'm not sure which other "articles like this" you are referring to, but I don't think you need to be too worried. Was this article was paid for by the Japanese

I'm not sure which other "articles like this" you are referring to, but I don't think you need to be too worried. Was this article was paid for by the Japanese government? I doubt it. The website appears to be that of a business that would like to sell you things, which seems a likely enough motive for them to post articles on just about anything. You might be interested in Cool Japan[0], which is part of Japan's "overall brand strategy". This sort of national marketing is not unique to Japan, but their various campaigns are a noteworthy successful example. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_Japan