[atomicfiredoll]

Some software may not bridge the gap in design sensibilities between Japan and other countries, but Sony and Nintendo are examples of massive Japanese companies working on various hardware and UX solutions for an international audience. I don't think it's fair to paint software from Japan with such a broad brush.

A minimalist design aesthetic also doesn't automatically equate to good UX. I think there's lots of people on this site that would say modern, western UX is often poorly executed and potentially getting worse (in some regards.) A common complaint I hear is that interfaces have too much white-space.

If UX is predicated on user research, it's important to recognize that people coming from outside Japan and who don't know the language aren't the target users and probably not the right ones to be making a judgement calls on the quality of Japanese software as a whole.

If you're asking about the difference in design sensibilities, this is speculation, but a couple things that come to mind are:

- The information density of local written languages.

- The relatively small number of fluent English speakers in Japan means there's potentially less opportunity for ideas and design patterns to cross pollinate, making each style feel more foreign to outsiders.