Especially in the European and American block, the culture of 'Japan' as imagined by foreign people was likely to be exaggerated in some part or being mixed with China and being stereotyped, due to curiosity (exoticism) about a culture of which the ancestry was completely different from that of Christian culture, and many 'perception biases' from the Japanese viewpoint were seen (even now, there are many foreign travelers who are surprised to know that Japan has no 'ninja' (professional spy in feudal Japan highly trained in stealth and secrecy)).
外国からイメージされた「日本」の文化は、特に欧米圏では、キリスト教文化とは全く系統の異なる文化への好奇心（エキゾチズム）から、ある一面が誇張され、あるいは中国などと混同され、ステロタイプ（ステレオタイプ、紋切り型）化されて伝わる傾向があり、日本人から見れば「偏った認識」と思われるものが多く見受けられた（現在でも、日本に「忍者」がいないので驚いたという外国人旅行者は少なからずいる）。