Japan's main problem is that they are stubborn - the Koreans and Chinese bought in european designers and made cars look to Western tastes. Japanese cars look like Japanese cars.
I definitely agree on your last point, big fan of a lot of the recent designs that have come out of Korea. A sort of boxy, cyberpunk look in models like the Hyundai Grandeur and IONIQ 5 - and the Hyundai N Vision 74 concept looks amazing.
Lexus would for example - far more reliable and engineered than the European premium ones but, in my opinon, have never looked the part. Even the Lexus performance coupe's.
EVERYONE knew China was coming, it was long clear that China saw the changeover from ICE to EV as an opportunity to become a dominant player.
Chinese companies are setting up local brands for different countries: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74jgk1kw87o and making cars that appeal to western tastes.
Japan's main problem is that they are stubborn - the Koreans and Chinese bought in european designers and made cars look to Western tastes. Japanese cars look like Japanese cars.