am I misreading this

You might be.

I read the same user's responses quite differently than you did.

again, i get it if that's not actually what's being implied, i might be on edge because I've been dealing with a lot of privileged white people getting stuck in their 'Eastern Mysticism' stuff and I'm seeing issues where there are none, which would be valid

I can only speak for myself here, but I only meant the Yakuza series in particular being refreshing and nice, not Glorious Nippon as a whole (I've ranted exhaustively about the anime industrial complex's increasing focus on pandering to otaku and how much that's harming creativity and smothering many potential projects before they even have a chance to start), so maybe it's best to just to ask the other user.