Without trolling thru my log books, PruneZeuss I would say about 12 years ago. Living on the Gold Coast let me assure you they are scarcer than a ro%t in a convent up here, not like the good ol days when all the street signs in Surfers Paradise were in Japanese. They have long since moved on and prefer HNL (a bit ironic is't it) and all the fancy Ralph Lauren curtains in a brand new A/C is not going to bring them back. As far as their culture is concerned, they are sensitive to directions and requests (as you probably know) and are easily offended, the cabin crews in this era worked hard to overcome this, but at times the system failed, especially in times of stress or anxiety, and the C/C being Aussies were not beyond getting the total sh$ts, when requests re seat belts, or not using the toilets at certain times were simply ignored. Nothing more than two different cultures doing things their own way, which ended up in some complaints being made to QF management. I cant spell it out for you any other way. No doubt things have changed, as a younger generation of Japanese Nationals travel and are far more western themselves these days. It does not matter if the PAX are Asian or Masai the understanding of different cultures is always a challange for C/C, when all you have to understand is the ATC. I take my hat off to em.