Glad to hear you are enjoying Cyberpunk 2077.
William Gibson said ; "
Modern Japan simply was cyberpunk. The Japanese themselves knew it and delighted in it. I remember my first glimpse of Shibuya, when one of the young Tokyo journalists who had taken me there, his face drenched with the light of a thousand media-suns—all that towering, animated crawl of commercial information—said, "You see? You see? It is Blade Runner town." And it was. It so evidently was."
People often ask 'why is the cyberpunk genre so heavily influenced by Japanese culture? Is it because Japan has always been ahead of the times technology-wise, so they would naturally be the pioneers of anything cyberpunk in nature? '
Japanese culture has co-opted fashion and music culture from the 70s into its technologically competent and fascinated society, and the narrative of cyberpunk themes has been one natural evolution. Blade Runner came out in June 1982 and was based on a novel from 1968. Akira was first published in December 1982.
Blade Runner introduced cyberpunk elements that we're familiar with: Film Noir and Artificial Intelligence (in this case, androids or replicants) all elements that have been strongly imbued into western and Japanese art, comics, books and movies. "Burning Chrome" and "Johnny Mnemonic" were the first stories set in Gibson's "sprawl" universe. Bruce Sterling and Gibson and a host of other talented writers created and expanded what we often refer to now as the 'cyberpunk culture' and several paid substantial homage to Japanese influence but in Japan there was convergent evolution of cyberpunk themes which are supported by many Japanese cultural attitudes practices and beliefs.
American and Japanese cyberpunk represent American and Japanese reactions to the early '80s. The similarities and differences are a product of the similarities and differences between the countries at the time. The influence of Film Noir, a 100% American genre, has been huge on cyberpunk. Deckard's wardrobe choice, the use of chiaroscuro (an effect of contrasted light and shadow) in the interview scene with Rachael, Harrison Ford's 'Raymond Chandler PI' style voiceover narration (some loved it some hated it) even the music style in some parts of Blade Runner all shout out to Film Noir, as does Night City, especially in black and white photo mode.
Interestingly, often the first reference to 'cyberpunk' has been credited to a short story by Bruce Bethke in 1980; you can read his thoughts on this at
http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/cpunk.htm
So much has been written about how western authors and film makers have trodden similar pathways to Japanese cyberpunk anime and manga. Some other famous cyberpunk anime and manga:
Bubblegum crisis, 1987.
Armitage iii, 1995.
Appleseed (manga), 1985.
Battle Angel Alita, 1990.
Video Girl Ai (manga), 1989.
Cyber City Oedo 808 (ova), 1990
Serial Experiments Lain, 1998
All of them AFTER Gibson's Neuromancer.
If you are interested in the links between cyberpunk culture and the high inclusion of Japanese and Chinese cultural elements, signage and scenes in much of it, you might read this rather unusual WIRED article by George Yang from 2020 which introduces the idea of 'techno-orientalism' and refers specifically to CyberPunk 2077 in much detail, examining the cross cultural influences, prejudices and tropes that occur in the game and in many sci fi and 'cyberpunk' movies.
Orientalism, Cyberpunk 2077, and Yellow Peril in Science Fiction
at
https://www.wired.com/story/orientalism-cyberpunk-2077-yellow-peril-science-fiction/