I never met a Brazilian who went to Japan and didn’t spontaneously say that things there are so different. I don’t think it’s solely propaganda (if any at all).
It is a mix of development, very different culture (Brazil has a lot of European and US cultural influence), but also safety, institutional efficiency, traditions. Idk, there is a lot of different aspects and things.
That’s the core point. Of course Asian culture is more different. Probably a better example would be for a Brazilian to visit some African tribe.
I visited African tribes, and of course it is different than a big city in Brazil, it is just as different as an indigenous tribe here in Brazil, or a more rural village.
Japan uniqueness, I believe, comes from its urban development. Rich, clean, polite, functional big cities is the uniqueness that I see in Japan that it’s not common in any other place in the world. I didn’t find that in LA, NY, Paris, London, Dakar.
Maybe Copenhagen (from the ones I visited) would match some aspects of it, but then it’s not as big as Tokyo, nor it is blended with the tradition as in Japan (or I am used to Nordic traditions more than Japanese)
I am convinced that Japan has some unmatched uniqueness which make it more different of other countries than other countries are among them.