I don't think it's racist to want to protect your culture.
Agreed on this but I suppose there's a somewhat blurry line there where each side experiences it differently. If I'm in Japan restaurant and immediately get shunned into the corner behind the kitchen where they can't even see me (plenty of other tables) and ignore me when asking to be served, I'm gonna see that as racism.
They might be able to spin it as 'we just want it to look Japanese to others coming in and be in a safe environment' or something, but come on lol. In the West you'd probably get shut down for that behaviour.
Perspectives. You're right though, I don't get the feeling it's significant whatsoever. Just little tidbits here n' there.
Western cultures tend to focus on the first half of that statement and Asian cultures tend to focus on the latter half.
That's a nice way of putting it. The hyper-liberalism of the West also is not nearly as adopted around the world as people in the West like to believe. Not only is it 'do whatever you want' but it's championed at all costs, rather than socially stigmatised which was, until recently, the norm.
I don't think that sits well in places like Japan. Yeah do whatever degenerate shit you want but... keep it on the downlow, out of sight.
Japan actually feels more comfortable to me than anywhere else
Tbh England (what's left of it) is the Japan of the West in this one regard, the hyper-emphasis on manners, traditions & rules. Be quiet, queue, hold your cutlery in a certain way and so on. But it doesn't go nearly as far as Japan.
In both countries I feel a bit of an alien even though one is literally my home. China has ruined me haha.