[bokumo]

I lived in Japan for nearly 3 years. I speak, or at least used to speak with fair fluency and I can confirm that this is somewhat accurate. I would add that many Japanese high schools are highly selective and very demanding of students. Graduates of these high schools often perform well in academic subjects and often overachieve in U.S. universities, but only the best students get into those high schools and many students are forced to choose from much less competitive schools.

In short, education through high school is often very demanding, but Japanese colleges are quite easy for liberal arts students. Much less so for STEM subjects.