The Japanese food scene in Singapore, KL, Bangkok and Taipei were amazing frankly. I mean excluding Japan.
It was easy to get anything we saw that was popular or trendy in Japan, immediately. Those cities just had large Japanese expat populations and chefs.
One of my school friends in high school was also from Japan and their family ran a cute little eatery in their living room. We went often. It was delicious and home cooked.
Now you can get stuff at every price range in those places. Roasted sweet potato filled with Hokkaido butter? 24/7 in some places. Fluffy cheesecakes? Strawberry sando? Good quality gyoza? All super easy. Endless ramen variations and types.
I miss that terribly. Compared to whatever this is, Japanese food as fine dining mostly, where I am.