"These stories gain traction because they support a simplistic view of East Asia which is at best patronising and at worst overtly racist [...] The collective obsession with portraying Japan as a nation of tech-obsessed sexual deviants dehumanises its citizens and echoes orientalist attitudes that should be long since dead and buried."
Glad to see this article.
I found that Guardian article very disturbing and anecdotal. The Vice followup was worse (at one point characterizing Japanese culture as "South East Asian").