The shinto culture translates into techno-animist. We have a narrative in the West of tech killing the soul of humanity but in Japan all objects have kami (soul). Robots, Tamogatchis -- they all were seen as friends.
Weirdness as a release valve. Because a lot of public life is so regulated, you get extreme subcultures (like kagero-za which I watched last night). The ability for weird subcultures to thrive ironically allows for "open" culture.
YES!! I think two other factors are at play here.