Constraints on street-running rolling stock basically leads you to one basic design with some slight variations. All around the world they look mostly the same.
Something like that needs a much different "locomotive profile" than a train that entirely stays on grade-separated rails. A tram that can be stopped at a stoplight like a bus needs visibility from the cab so that the operator can ensure there isn't a child in front of the train before moving.
This means you end up with a front that ... looks like a bus. Compare to high-speed trains, or even subways (subway operator visibility is often pretty low).
(American rails are separated into "light and heavy" where heavy rails have some very significant requirements due to sharing the lines with freight, etc. And the freight locomotives are designed to protect the engineer in the case of a high-speed grade collision. Something that is not supposed to be possible with euro/Japan style high-speed rail; a ducknose hitting a semi truck would push the truck right into the cab.)
I find the newer Japanese stuff a bit much, honestly. The duck bills are just...ugh. They look good from these sort of angles, but looks pretty dumb from the side.
Japan is full of mountains, and these trains need to repeatedly enter tunnels at high speed. You want to make the pressure change as gradual as possible. How else would you do it?
There is a university there whose name would directly translate to "Kinki University". They opted to editorialize it a bit before going international (they go by "Kindai University" outside of Japan).
There are Kinky subway cars in Boston as well. Probably too old to to be listed on their page now. I wish we could have these modern, nice looking ones.
The Japanese trains are significantly more aesthetic, let alone their superior function.