Could this be due to European/American standards of beauty being recognized through imported pop-culture as being "the gold standard" of beauty in Asia due to its prevalence creating this idea of "default appearance" as being white like it is in predominantly white countries?
That's a heavy part of it, yes. Especially as from that perspective, American/European standards of beauty are exotic, so there's that additional appeal. Though in Japan's case in particular I feel you have to consider two other factors.
1) History. Japan simply doesn't have the same cultural baggage as a lot of other countries because Japan, unlike so many other countries, was never a colony under European rule. American occupation after WW2 lasted only seven years. Japan does not have an extensive history of being the oppressed under white supremacy - indeed, much of East and South East Asia will tell you of how they were the oppressor.
2) Cultural output. The people of Japan do not need to look very far to find representation. Works both depicting the Japanese, or otherwise made
by the Japanese, are common both domestically and abroad. Your Name made over 300 million dollars at the international box office last year. A generation grew up watching the adventures of a monkey with spiky black hair beating the shit out of bad guys. While the world may have Power Rangers, Japan have had Super Sentai for 40 years, and the farthest they've gone in terms of diversity in the main cast is occassionally having a cast member only be
half-Japanese.
In a sense, white supremacy and whitewashing simply aren't as big of a deal in Japan, because to use the analogy of bowls of chocolate raisins, Japan's own bowl is still pretty decently full. Take away a Goku or a Major Kusanagi, its annoying but they still have many more. In an American/European context, the bowl for Asians is much,
much less full, handful of big raisins at most. Some will still notice and question that the Japanese bowl is not as full as the white guy's, but most will not even register the gap.
