All - I've been reluctant to throw my hat into the ring in regards to the "racism" thread. But I figured I'd chime in with a mini trip report and let others draw whatever conclusions they choose. In a nutshell:

JL047 JFKNRT, four award seats in F. Two adults, two children and 6 and 8.

One adult (me) lived in Tokyo for a year as an exchange student. By no means fluent, though certainly can exchange a greeting or two.

So, now that we've set that stage, on to the report. Arrived early at JFK, no wait at F check-in podium, no escort to security (not that I was expecting one), disappointed that at that hour there was no separate F/J security line so it took maybe 20 minutes to get through. As widely reported, nothing special about F lounge, and to my disappointment (and contrary to other trip reports), there was no champagne, even when requested. J lounge much airier and bright, but kids were happy reading so no need to move around.

We were originally seated rows 1, 2, 3, 4 along the right side (skysleeper solo). I asked at the lounge whether they could approach passengers in 1 & 2 on the left and see if they'd be willing to switch to 3 and 4. Obviously, I played up the "we are going to need to tend to our kids, so don't want to run the risk of annoying the other passengers by constantly passing by them." Not surprisingly, right before the flight was called, agent brought over BPs for the first four seats in the nose.

Boarded a bit late, were immediately set upon by our flight attendant (3 FAs in F for 11 seats, so we essentially had our own dedicated FA for the first half of the flight), she brought some amenity kits for the kids, asked them if they were excited about their trip, and generally made us feel welcome (which, on other airlines, has not always been the case with kids in F). I spoke a few words of Japanese to break the ice, and from there we proceeded to have fabulous service.

For what it is worth, at no point did we feel neglected, and yes, we were the only gaijin up front. True, FAs don't circulate the cabin as often as on SQ, so on one or two occasions I may have used the call button to summon more water, but that was it. On one occasion one of my kids was done with his meal so I just instinctively grabbed his tray and started walking back to the galley (I'm used to cleaning up at home). It was almost comical to see how aghast and apologetic the FA was, I realized I really had goofed.

To the credit of JL F (my first experience), best fact was the multitude of snacks. The formal Japanese meal was fine, but having the option of Lobster Rolls, Curry Beef, Cheeseburgers and so forth was fabulous, especially with the kids.

Only odd thing was that amenity kits were handed out at the END of the flight. That was fine - masks and toothbrushes were of course available throughout - but I don't recall on other airlines getting the his and her kits so shortly before landing.

Smallish immigration queue, and bags were delivered asap. I think we boarded the NEX that departed only 45 minutes from blocking in, which is fabulous.

So there you have it. We gave the airline every opportunity to treat us, well, perhaps indifferently; award tickets, kids in F, gaijin (depending what you believe), needed seats moved around. Instead, we received excellent, attentive service. Kids were addressed directly by name, they struggled with their "diet-o coku onegai shimasu" and "domo arigatoos" but maybe that made some difference. In any event, others can chime in on their perception of difficulties others may have encountered on JL, I most certainly did not.

Best to all - JNB