Meta-meta-comment, but "horrible" is your value judgement, which isn't shared by everybody. The comic-book bold style is useful in a certain way ("these sections would be emphasized if this was being read to you out loud") and I personally appreciate it for articles and posts I am just skimming while waiting for something else to finish.

But it's ironic, too, because this article (unlike a lot of the ones that pop up on the regular 3-6 month cadence of "why is the Japanese web so weird?" posts) does nail the point that the negative perception of what we "westerners" feel is "horrible" about Japan's seemingly insane attachment to the MySpace aesthetic isn't shared by a lot of Japanese people, who in turn find our modern web design bland, info-deficient, and simplistic to the point of simplemindedness.

(Which is definitely not a sentiment I personally share — I do feel Rakuten's website is "horrible" — but that's the point: design is about audiences; there is no truth to be had.)