Most of Japan tends to live in a bubble, pretty isolated to the outside western world (this goes back hundreds of years as well, it's kinda part of this isolationist identity and xenophobic trait of not really understanding much about gaijins, but that's another topic of discussion) whilst they do get their gist of western pop culture and entertainment from time to time, unless it's dubbed in Japanese, you would have to actively seek it out on non Japanese websites in order to know what's happening outside of Japan.
So basically not only would Sakurai not particularly know much about the scene that exists outside of Japan, he's rather oblivious to western perception entirely (even Japanese fans have said that he doesn't even pay particular attention to what fans wanted from Smash over there).
His engagements with the Smash community are few and far between, I think for his sake it's best he keeps it that way, he shouldn't have to fear what he's ended up indirectly created...
