No of course some films are suited to their aspect ratios and wouldn't look right if the opposite. The ones that are well shot in 1.33 wouldn't work in 2.35 either... the recent remasters of Kubrick's films were cropped to 16x9 and unusually look just as good as in their OAR (orig asp ratio) which was 1.66.1 I think. European films commonly were in 1.66, whereas American were commonly 1.85 or 2.35 but for eg. Ben Hur was something like 2.90:1 or thereabouts... verrry wide...
2.35:1 isn't 16x9 1.78:1 is true widescreen for TV's (16x9 and 1080p), 2.35 is much wider and has black bars at top and bottom.
There's plenty of Japanese films in widescreen, Kurosawa's first was Red Beard I think, and that one of the better shot films I have seen... but plenty of other Japanese filmmakers used widescreen tho... it's just that the best era in Japan was pre widescreen dominant era really.
Watching old films on Blu is incredible, The Seventh Seal & Repulsion & Wings of Desire looked absolutely stunning. Like u with White Ribbon, I loved seeing Wings on Blu for the initial viewing. Lots of images from that film have stuck with me, I really really enjoyed it...
2.35:1 is the more common ratio for Japan widescreen from what I've seen. Kurosawa was a master of wide and full frame compositions, and Ozu was a master of full frame also.