Unique Japanese Political Culture?

In an article published in the Journal of Japanese Studies this year, Kenneth Pyle had rightfully pointed out that “few countries had revised their domestic order so sweepingly to meet the needs of the new international order.”

Japan, he noted, had demolished the Sino-centric system, embarked on a US-inspired system, and later attempted to create an East Asian world order.

Separately, in his book titled "Machiavelli's Children", Richard Samuels had provided a riveting account of how individuals such as Hirobumi and Yamagata had re-shaped the Japanese landscape into one that is totally transformative in nature.

While these are certainly indicative of Japan’s flexibility and ability to adapt, can it also be interpreted as a sign of malleability?

Or worse, the sense of not having anything distinctive or unique in either its political culture or cultural heritage that its people were proud of such that they had to guard and protect with their lives, or at least defend its encroachment if not demise, with greater enthusiasm and vigor?