There are changes in every society in the world right now, yet I have the impression that Japan gets a big part of coverage while having little relevance to the rest of the world...
> little relevance to the rest of the world
That's .. an opinion.
I'd say several things contribute to that reputation. It's historically remote (hence exotic and alien), it was never so consistently powerful as to be a great power and share in what is considered normal (like China is), yet not weak neither and experienced modernization very early, hence contributing to its influence and thus reputation.
Personally I adore Japan. It is surely a country from the future. It has so many lessons to give for the rest of us.
Japan is firmly stuck in the 80s. The only major change is now most people here have smartphones.
Japan does some things very right, and some things horribly wrong. Not too different from most other developed countries.
In Europe having five weeks of paid vacation is pretty much standard. Employers are well aware that holidays benefit both employer and employee, because a well-rested and refreshed employee soon has those missing hours made up for in inspiration, efficiency, and a much lower sick-rate.
In Japan this is unachievable not because the government doesn't desire it (on the contrary) but because of inertia in the workplace. As a Japanese friend recently explained to me: you can't take off many more days beyond the public holidays like in the golden week, because your senior colleagues didn't get to do that when they were younger either. With the strict hierarchy of seniority in Japanese companies and institutions, that basically means the end of that discussion until the desire for change becomes so great that it happens on a national scale.
On the other hand, they have warm 缶コーヒー from vendingmachines, so they are living in the future. At least a bit.
Also: working hours. (From what I've heard.)
Spending an ungodly number of hours in the office, even if half of them are unproductive, and where you can actually fall asleep from exhaustion--but that's okay, as long as you're at your desk.
"Genetic diversity" of ideas is an important part of making the world a better place.
I sincerely hope we're learning not to repeat many mistakes that have been made there regards work culture, xenophobia and racism and crippling pressure to conform.
It serves to me a similar role as sci-fi for me, in reminding me of that.
And the banking system is ass backwards compared to the rest of the world.