Agree wholeheartedly. Been living in Fukuoka myself for the past two years, and I cannot help but notice that the foreign population here has been steadily growing. Although the city is marketing themselves to be the new Startup hub in Japan, I still think it has to be as global as say, Tokyo, to catch up. English is also not so commonly spoken here as Tokyo.
The city has definitely been pushing hard for foreign startups but the changes they are making are only baby steps and PR in my opinion. I thought it was rather strange that the press conference held by the mayor to promote foreign startups had to have an interpreter because the mayor couldn't manage any English and the foreign entrepreneurs on stage didn't speak Japanese.
FWIW, JETRO is like that too. A lot of the process happens in Japanese (it's basically only foreigner friendly in name)
It's still a good start but it's definitely not what it's spun to be.
I have people I'm complaining to and they are changing though (even if it's taking them a few months)
The willingness to change is definitely new for Japan.