Of course nothing is expected.

however...

When I worked in Japan, specifically local and difficult to source items were always appreciated (I used to go to Harvey Nichols and buy things like tea and shortbread and “proper English cups with a saucer” etc to take). Good quality single malt whiskey used to go down well with the men (lord only knows why given how good Japanese whiskey is). And then, obviously depending how long you’re staying for, I also found printing out a photo of *me with whoever* and putting it in a frame was well received

disclaimer- my locales were Sendai and northern Hokkaido so people may have been slightly more parochial and easy to impress. This was also in 2006 and I gather there has been something of an explosion in tourism since then