I wouldn't call Japanese games better at story. They just tend to fall back on a different set of tropes (again and again) and are more likely to be text-based so you don't have to put up with terrible voice acting so much.
What I do think Japanese developers are better at is art design and polish. The art design tends to be cleaner and more unique, while western developers tend to choose from only a handful of styles and embellish an absurd amount of detail in a misguided effort to demonstrates how sophisticated their graphics are. And Japanese devs are far less likely to be seduced by the idea that glitches in the game are acceptable and can be fixed post-release.
"The worst part about these reviews is they are [subjective]--and their scores often depend on how drunk you got the media at a Street Fighter event." — Mona Hamilton, Capcom Senior VP of Marketing
*Image indefinitely borrowed from BrainBoxLtd without his consent.
