What if some of these "French researchers" are let's say Chinese citizens residing in France since finding homogenous research team is very unlikely?
I'm quite annoyed with these constructions as foreigner living outside my home country when politicians/media always say Czech citizens this, Czech citizens that as if there were no residents with other citizenship affected by new laws/decisions.
They are still "french researchers" since they are doing their research in France. That's reading a bit too much into it in my opinion (also an expat).
The bad thing is that the cultural weight Japan holds is based on myths, hearsay, misunderstandings, or lack of deep insights due to the language barrier.
The image of Japan in the US and to a lesser extent in Europe is very far removed from reality.
As a Briton, I see an awful lot more of America on TV than Japan. As a result then it's surely inherently more (likely to be) balanced/matching up with reality?
Compared to Japan; the only show I can think of that I've seen that's even sort of set there was The Man in the High Castle!
That's a very subcomplex idea of how media works. Of course, everybody understands that there is a difference between fiction and reality. And "reality TV" is fiction as well, even if some people might still be fooled by that.
Still the reality of US life does reveal itself simply by the "what" and "how" Americans create their media, like TV, movies, radio, podcasts, web video, and so on.
Or put in terms an American with a tech background would understand:
Everybody knows Walter White is not a real person, and Breaking Bad isn't a documentary. Yet the reality of American-style healthcare and personal financial ruin for many people who are misfortunate enough to get cancer and have it treated, is not fiction.
it's surely inherently more (likely to be) balanced/matching up with reality?
Not really. TV/Movies are stereotypes & caricatures. News media shows mostly the extremes, or anything violent. Think of native British shows you might watch: are they accurate portrayals of day to day life? (Besides Dr. Who, which I'm pretty sure is a documentary.)
The fact we can identify "Japan" as an entity says a lot about the cultural weight it holds. Not a bad thing.