I completed one game just before the feb. 23 patch, Communitas map (people seem to love this map) and strategic balance, with the wide cultural gameplay mentioned before, and it went somewhat better than expected.
The starting position of the Capital doesn't really matter that much due to the Dojo. The extra
on Iron and Horses are pretty much an extension of the UA, meaning a city with 2 sea resources/atolls can provide as much culture as a 5-sea/atoll one with enough Iron/Horses nearby. Since you have some guarantee to have both land resources with strategic balance near your Capital, rerolling your starting position isn't that relevant in the long run (though still useful in the first two eras).
Generating Tourism with Japan is easy once you get Hotel/Stadium/Airport, since the Dojo's culture on Iron/Horse improvements also counts for the Hotel. It also helps that Autocracy's Air Superiority provies a free airport in your cities, making it a strong tenet for both military and culture victory for this civ. Overall, Japan could be considered to have some (non-negligible) free Great Artist/Writer/Musician once you get these buildings.
The change to the Great Musician to also consider culture output plays in favor for Japan, as the UA + Dojo can provide more culture per city than Amphiteathers + Opera Houses in a wide gameplay.
The Dojo could support wide gameplay more if it didn't require a Barracks to be built in the city, just like the Basilica (Byzantium's UB temple replacement) doesn't require a Shrine (it's a Monument instead). When you settle near Iron/Horses, you want the Dojo up quickly for the
to speed up all other buildings (
also helps if going Authority). But, since the Dojo is expensive when you research Chivalry AND require a building that doesn't provide
without an Arena first, you prioritize other buildings instead. As such, the Dojo's effect is (annoyingly) delayed in new cities.
The UA in general invites you to conquer coastal cities that can provide you with a monopoly in any sea resource. Some monopolies result in huge yields when coupled with Japan's UA (Pearl tiles giving +6
and whales giving +10%
on all cities, for instance). The melee naval units building fishing boats is useful when capturing cities, since you're free to pillage their sea resources without any
or
cost to rebuild them once the city is conquered. And, since Bushido applies to naval/air units as well, you can mount a strong coastal siege even without a UU naval unit. You should take advantage of it even if Conquest is your last victory intended (in fact, you don't need to conquer
capitals if you can get the monopoly without it, avoiding the -80 diplo modifier).
Overall, playing a (mostly) peaceful gameplay didn't felt like a waste of Japan's UA and UB. I think it's safe to say that the CBP addressed the complaint that Japan was one-dimensional.