This is a sequel of sorts to my New Germany tips.
Japan was the other civ that had significant changes made with the fall patch (but not nearly as much as Germany)
To the pre existing unique ability of units fight at full strength no matter how damaged they are the now also get +1 culture from fishing boats & +2 culture from Atolls.
Their first UU (Samurai) is back to vanilla CD release upgrade to Rifles and still buildable with the Musket tech.
In addition the UU can build fishing boats which does NOT use up the unit.
The UA changes basically gives it a mild bonus toward culture victory. (Via Hotels / Aiports turning tiles with culture into tourism). However it should be noted that it's not a good enough source to give them a reason to push towards Piety tree. (I've never seen an Atoll appear close enough to a capital to be worked and it doesn't start working on fish until fishing boats are present)
But they are still quite capable of using their UA towards a domination victory.
They also have a (very minor) indirect bonus towards science victory. That above extra culture should shave a few turns off of completing the rationalism tree.
And an almost negligible advantage towards diplomatic victory : Slightly easier to complete city state culture quests
For all victory types:
Japan has a little bit more protection against your citizens following false ideologies.
On the Samurai changes:
If you have Iron, I wouldn't build any fishing boats for fish and would instead wait for a Samurai to build them. Of course if you have a sea luxury, you may very well need the resource hooked up sooner than that.
The delayed upgrade to Rifles gives you a bit more time to find Iron if you don't start any. And the UU is almost as good as Muskets anyway so it doesn't have much downside. Also, the fishing boat ability doesn't carry over when promoted to Rifles; so you may want to delay upgrading your last one until you've seen the Oil resources.
Edit: If you want to use both aspects of your UA at the same time: Try to win via a conquest-assisted Culture victory (Autocratic culture victory); highest priority conquests: Whoever has the most culture; since they probably have the most Great Works and/or World Wonders with theming bonuses.
Further Edit: There is either a bug or an undocumented feature regarding Japan's Atolls and Hotels/Airports.
While your hotels/airports provide the expected tourism from fishing boats, these buildings don't count culture from Atolls.
Japan was the other civ that had significant changes made with the fall patch (but not nearly as much as Germany)
To the pre existing unique ability of units fight at full strength no matter how damaged they are the now also get +1 culture from fishing boats & +2 culture from Atolls.
Their first UU (Samurai) is back to vanilla CD release upgrade to Rifles and still buildable with the Musket tech.
In addition the UU can build fishing boats which does NOT use up the unit.
The UA changes basically gives it a mild bonus toward culture victory. (Via Hotels / Aiports turning tiles with culture into tourism). However it should be noted that it's not a good enough source to give them a reason to push towards Piety tree. (I've never seen an Atoll appear close enough to a capital to be worked and it doesn't start working on fish until fishing boats are present)
But they are still quite capable of using their UA towards a domination victory.
They also have a (very minor) indirect bonus towards science victory. That above extra culture should shave a few turns off of completing the rationalism tree.
And an almost negligible advantage towards diplomatic victory : Slightly easier to complete city state culture quests
For all victory types:
Japan has a little bit more protection against your citizens following false ideologies.
On the Samurai changes:
If you have Iron, I wouldn't build any fishing boats for fish and would instead wait for a Samurai to build them. Of course if you have a sea luxury, you may very well need the resource hooked up sooner than that.
The delayed upgrade to Rifles gives you a bit more time to find Iron if you don't start any. And the UU is almost as good as Muskets anyway so it doesn't have much downside. Also, the fishing boat ability doesn't carry over when promoted to Rifles; so you may want to delay upgrading your last one until you've seen the Oil resources.
Edit: If you want to use both aspects of your UA at the same time: Try to win via a conquest-assisted Culture victory (Autocratic culture victory); highest priority conquests: Whoever has the most culture; since they probably have the most Great Works and/or World Wonders with theming bonuses.
Further Edit: There is either a bug or an undocumented feature regarding Japan's Atolls and Hotels/Airports.
While your hotels/airports provide the expected tourism from fishing boats, these buildings don't count culture from Atolls.