Too good to…? Tell that to the native Japanese pushing for their government to follow Germany’s lead in penance et al. and see how far you get. Even with their rightward tendencies (part LDP, part almost a net millennium of stratocratic rule, I’m guessing), Japan’s populace is not some philosophical monolith.
Besides, pre-Great War Germany, at least, liked to describe itself as Dichter und Denker—Writers and Thinkers—for a reason. Not quite pop culture, possibly, but nothing to sneeze at either way. So as worthy of respect as Japanese pop culture, yes?