I haven't been but it sounds like a fascinating place - I'd love to go.
However, a couple of things bother me culturally. The whole respect/bowing/saving face/honour thing - they're all related. I just don't see any logical reason to have such a tiered society. Women are not respected much either particularly among the older generation.
And the politeness thing? Although it's nice to be on the receiving end of niceness - regardless of whether it is genuine or not - I have it on good authority that a lot of the time this is merely mockery. To a lot of Japanese people (again, particularly the older generation) western Europeans are practically subhuman.
But I'd still love to go