I grew up in Australia but lived in Japan for 10 years. Tall poppy syndrome is what made me feel the cultures truly had something in common.
Haven't experienced either culture but was more familiar with the Japanese proverb "The nail that stands out gets hammered down." Edit: Now that I think about it, I did experience the phenomenon at one workplace where my manager literally said that my "performance was making the other devs look bad." I was later placed on probation (for being a bad manager though I signed up as an IC) and I GTFO.
Yes I feel that proverb applies for Australian culture too. It’s all about superiority of the group over the individual and maintaining the silent rule of “this is normal, you’re a freak if you divert from that.”
That sounds like a pretty toxic workplace. Good thing you could escape it.