>An elegant middle-aged man, in a spotless black jacket, came up to me, hand extended, to say hello, and I was startled. My neighbours in Japan tend to be formal and reticent; few of them are eager to take the initiative. And we were simply standing around an art gallery on Kitayama Street in northern Kyoto, 20 years ago, where a handful of us had gathered to see an exhibition of a friend’s pen-and-ink drawings.
This paragraph is awful from a purely grammatical perspective.
The second thing that becomes apparent is a definable arrogance and pretentiousness from the author. As you said, the "essence of Japan" isn't a trust fund baby selling his poems. If anything it is getting hired on at a zaibatsu, working yourself to death, living alone in a tiny apartment and developing alcoholism by age 30. This image isn't as fantastical as the one Pico presents though.