Bit off-topic but I don't think the "Cultural Differences" dismissals are unique to Japan; One of my friends from the US will often try to explain disagreements away with "must be different over there" and other similar statements. It's endlessly infuriating.
Apart from the specific Japanese language specifics, I didn't read anything that I wouldn't expect in more than half of the American companies that I encounter outside of SV. There may be differences in how prevalent these things are, but I can't really use this account to draw conclusions about that.
