Add to that the more specifically Japanese phenomena well known to the English-speaking world: karate, judo, sumo, bonsai, manga, pachinko, samurai, shogun, noh and kimono, say, not to mention foods from the bland (tofu) to the potentially fatal (fugu).
Taiwanese food may seem cheap next to Japan's sushi, sashimi and fugu.
Others, though, specialise only in tempura, or teppanyaki, sushi, soba noodles and, yes, fugu, the pufferfish that is lethal if contaminated with the toxic internal organs.For all that, to concentrate on Michelin misses a trick or three.
Taiwanese food may seem cheap next to Japan's sashimi and fugu.
Hundreds of people have died of fugu poisoning, though usually from trying to prepare it without proper training.
The flesh of the poisonous species can be safely eaten only when the freshly caught specimen has been carefully cleaned and washed in the exacting manner of fugu (or puffer fish) chefs in Japan.
"Regulations no longer meet the needs of contemporary fugu distribution," sniffed an official with the government's public health bureau.
"I'll rather pay a bit extra to be safe," says Masaru Kondo, a fugu veteran.
Japanese fugu chefs are an exclusive guild, licensed to carefully gut the fish of the liver, ovaries and other parts where the poison lurks.
"The strict regulations have protected Tokyo's fugu industry, and this has kept the fish's prices high," restaurant-chain owner Daichi Sakamoto told the Yomiuri newspaper.
But the fish, called fugu locally, contains toxic poisons that can prove fatal if it is not prepared correctly.
