What is the taste/seasoning range in Japanese dishes' flavors?

I've lived most of my life drooling over Japanese dishes found in movies, anime, documentaries and blogs. They look so so good!

Unfortunately, though, I have had very little first-hand experience with the food itself and the few times I've been able to eat Japanese dishes, both sweet and salty, I have had mixed feelings/experiences.

So... As a person who's very comfortable with asian spices, ranging from South Korea to Myanmar and everything in between, plus being born in Europe where we have quite a lot of different taste styles to try, I have found Japanese food - in those few under 10 tries - quite bland for my tastebuds.

I believe I've seen it said many times that many Japanese dishes focus on the quality & taste of the ingredient itself, but I didn't really catch what that meant. I'm not sure if I still do. In authentic, Japanese family owned restaurants and buying processed food from their shops, if it's not stuff like ramen, the flavors seem to be very mild in overall. Last time I had tonkatsu from a restaurant and in overall it tasted almost like nothing (as in even the few spices used were very little in amount). In my food-cultural experience, quality ingredients do still taste through added seasoning. Perhaps, because a lot of flavor is common for my life, I also find it bettering the quality taste over hiding or hindering it.

So.. I want to know - like in the title, how is the usual flavor range of Japanese dishes compared to other cultures' cuisines? I wish to eat more of them to get a better view of this, but seeing that you guys are more knowledgeable with the whole topic, I'd like to hear about it like this first before I get my next chance.

Thanks!

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