The author makes some very good points, but there is some stupid shit in here as well:

The company—an American company, at that—is appropriating Japanese culture and Japanese motifs to sell in its expansion pack.

Oh fuck off.

So now, the new footage shows a Sim standing in front of the small shrine, puzzled. The shrine is now seen as something baffling. It’s weird. It’s different.

It looks to me like the generic "contemplating" thing sims have done since Sims 1, like when you tell them to look at a piece of art. I don't think it's supposed to be the sim thinking "this is weird."

It's shitty censorship, but let's not make it out to be something it's not.