I don't see how this is much different from the establishing shots, panoramic shots, still life shots, etc. that exist in other genres as well. That being said, I do see these types of shots less often in modern non-anime film and I appreciate how anime has been carrying this tradition. Lots of classic films also have a taste for the scenic and contemplative, and it's one of the things I love about them.
In "Understanding Comics", Scott McCloud analyzed the transitions made between panels in various works, and he found that sequences of transitions between different views of an environment (what he called "aspect-to-aspect") were common in manga but were nearly absent in American or European comics. I believe he attributed this to the fact that manga typically has higher page counts than other comics, allowing the authors to invest more in setting up scenes.