I've only visited Japan once (I'm American), and as someone who had never been, I definitely saw a lot of things that seemed magical and I can understand the tendency to romanticize it.

Funny enough, I've been planning another trip (that was supposed to be for my daughters high school graduation, but COVID changed that)and spent a lot of time watching videos to get ideas and learn a bit of the language and culture, and some of the English speaking Japan based YouTubers opened my eyes to a lot of the areas where Japan definitely isn't magical.

It's been good to get some balance! I'm still excited to visit when we finally can.