Despite the lightheartedness, this is a very accurate description of the Taika Reforms. The context of this was that the Japanese court was locked in a decisive inner battle that would determine the fate of the nation. On one hand, the Soga clan was attempting to spread Buddhism in Japan which had just arrived from China through Korea, a measure they believed would civilise the state and bring it in line with civilised China and Korea. On the other, the Nakatomi clan was attempting to resist the spread of Chinese influence by promoting the Shinto faith. The Soga were the winners of that particular fight, thrusting Japan into Buddhist influence for the next few centuries, and assuming effective dictatorship over the Japanese court. In response, the Emperor colluded with the Nakatomi clan to have the Soga clan assassinated, with the next step being to attempt to cement the place of the Emperor in society. Even though they had lost the fight against the imposition of Chinese influence, the Nakatomi clan went all out to fully import Chinese bureaucracy and cultural norms.
For this, they turned to renowned scholar Takamuko no Kuromaro. The Takamuko family had emigrated to Japan from China in the early Jin Dynasty together with the descendants of the Han Emperors, and were themselves the descendants of Cao Cao. Takamuko had led a fact-finding mission several years before to China, and combined with his heritage, afforded him the legitimacy from both courts to shape the reforms. The reforms themselves can be split into four main ones:
Kouchi Koumin: was effectively the confiscation of all land from everyone in Japan, such that all land was the property of the Emperor. People would then apply to borrow land from the Emperor, who would distribute it impartially, and return the plots after death for redistribution. People themselves were also property of the Emperor, which eliminated serfdom. This was effectively the same as the Juntian system in China, and served two main purposes. The first was to encourage efficient use of agarable land so no plot was over or underused. The second was to prevent the nobility from having the ability to accumulate land and hence wealth outside the purview of the Emperor.
Kokugun Risei: was the division of the state into predetermined provincial boundaries, one of which was the designated capital city. The purpose of this was to prevent the rise of a personal demesne, political units based on whatever land a given lord happened to own at the time. In each province, roughly equally divided based on several factors, the Emperor could appoint a governor best suited for the job at that particular moment. This was of course directly taken from China, but the concept of a permanent capital city was taken one step further. The two cities which were ultimately chosen were actually built from scratch, being Heijo (today Nara) and Heian (today Kyoto), following the design of the Chinese capital Chang'an (today Xi'an), which was basically a neat grid much like New York today.
Handen Shuju: was basically a census taking system and codification of tax laws. It called for the registration of all land, with clear tax amounts for every commodity, as well as a corvee labour system to be activated at state discretion. Simultaneously, this also contributed to the establishment of a criminal code of Hachigyaku or Eight Punishments. This was identical to the Chinese Shi'e Ten Abominations code, except it removed adultery and incest from the list of crimes.
Koutei: was the establishment of a formal bureaucratic court, remarkably similar to a modern government. This had two components, the first was the establishment of two departments: the Jingi-kan or Department of Religion, and the Daijo-kan or Department of State. Each of these were subdivided into ministries and ministries had smaller offices. To facilitate this, a meritocratic rank system was also imported from China, featuring 30 ranks. Stipulations were also made for an imperial examination system.
In practice all of these measures took decades to actually implement, and eroded quickly such that within 150 years none of them were actually in place, except the capital city. Japan regressed rapidly into a feudal system of daimyo lords. However, the precedent of Chinese acculturation led to an undercurrent that brought even more cultural imports, giving us much of what we love and enjoy about traditional Japan today, including - soy sauce, kimonos, and sushi