You're spot-on, this practice of summarizing a "romantic Japan" that doesn't really exist has a name: Nihonjinron. There's a lot of complete bollocks to be foun

You're spot-on, this practice of summarizing a "romantic Japan" that doesn't really exist has a name: Nihonjinron. There's a lot of complete bollocks to be found in Western literature that falls under this term (even though it started out as a Japanese thing). Even Oscar Wilde made fun of this trend: >Oscar Wilde has argued that supposed aspects of Japanese culture widely reported in the West take on a life of their own as orientalist clichés long after the phenomena in question have disappeared from the socio-cultural landscape, saying "The actual people who live in Japan are not unlike the general run of English people; that is to say, they are extremely commonplace, and have nothing curious or extraordinary about them." Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihonjinron#Quotes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihonjinron#Quotes