Beppu & Arashiro were the first Japanese to complete the Tour. They were not the first Japanese to start the tour.
Beppu was part of a kick-ass lead around the Champs today. I bet his family, friends, teammates and countrymen (not to mention sponsors) were rightfully proud of that.
If someone is of Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese or any other that feels a connection to the Japanese and they feel some pride in what Beppu and Arashiro did the past three weeks then that is great, too. I have a German friend who grew up in Japan and he was excited that these two guys were in the race because of his connection to the country.