1 - Yep, Capcom Japan have the Steam distribution rights in conjunction with another smaller publisher for several Japanese indie games. Capcom Japan won't give the go ahead to sell them. The smaller publisher is powerless to change their mind.

2 - No. There are not enough people in Japan using Steam to even scratch the surface of what Valve wants when Greenlighting a game. As I say, most customers are under the impression that even if they vote, the game will not be made available in Japan. No surprise that. when you consider Japan has the highest amount of regional restrictions due to publishers (both main and indie) not allowing their games to be sold here.

3 - It's not so much what Valve did (at least to begin with) it's what they didn't do. They didn't negotiate with Japanese publishers to release games on Steam, while doing so for basically every other region. Such as EA. They still won't even approach EA Japan. Valve then started requiring a CERO rating despite the fact that CERO doesn't specifically rate PC games. PC games don't even need to go through CERO to be sold digitally. This is why EA can sell uncut versions of Dead Space in Japan without a CERO rating. It's also why several other games (Deus Ex Human Revolution/Saints Row The Third, Fallout 3, etc.) are uncut on the PC. The problem with CERO is that it's VERY expensive to get a rating. An indie PC game is not going to make that cost back. That's why several games (such as The Baconing) are not available on Steam here. Publisher decided they wouldn't make the CERO costs back.

And to make it even worse, it's now come to light that Valve apparently also have two rules dealing with worldwide distribution -

i - Unless stated otherwise sell in any country except Japan.
ii - Unless stated otherwise DON'T sell in Japan even when a publisher/developer states worldwide release

This means developers/publishers who really want to sell in Japan will have to specifically state it. But it also appears that some are not even made aware of this rule.

Then there's the Steam store front itself. It's often advertising false availability here. Even right now for example.

http://store.steampowered.com/?cc=jp -- Watch the rotating banner. Notice Grid 2 claiming Pre-Purchase Now! Visit the store page and you'll find you can't pre-purchase it. There's no buy button. The game doesn't release for several months yet. This happens more often than it doesn't.

Steam support simply tell people to check the news for information about upcoming releases. I can only recall 2 maybe 3 times when the news has specifically mentioned a new release for Japan. Most of them are never advertised. How can people here trust a store that goes out of its way to provide false information and to not provide actual release information? Did you see the news item mentioning the release of the Japanese language pack for Tomb Raider (released only in Japan)? No. Neither did anyone in Japan.

As for developers, several were also concerned over Valve's cut. Especially if they need to also go through a third party to localise their game. Many cited Recettear as an example -- although that one isn't a good example as Japan sales are a normal split between Valve and EGS only. But they don't like the idea of Valve taking a 30% cut if they then have to lose another cut to a third party.