I was in Tokyo and Osaka these last weeks, and China before Tokyo. Landing in Tokyo after China was magical. People didn't shout in public or have their phones blaring. They let people disembark trains instead of just barging in as soon as the train doors open, and they queue neatly for those doors. And yes everything was clean and tidy.

But the touristy area of Osaka was back to being dreadful. People cutting you off while walking, groups stopping in the middle of the way, often with their rolling suitcases blocking more of the path. I noticed there were many Chinese tourists (from the language with which they were shouting at each other..).

I don't agree that the lack of litter is only due to the cleanup. The Japanese in general follow the rules as expected, like I wrote above with queueing and putting their phones on silent mode.