Generally, the Western perspective was that the persecutions were needlessly cruel, however, the Japanese perspective seems to be more nuanced. Shusako Endo's popular novel "Silence," tells a somewhat sympathetic tale of two Jesuit priests being oppressed and abused by the Japanese shogunate. However, popular Japanese culture frequently portrays Christian daimyos (such as Amakusa Shiro who led the Shimabara Rebellion) as antagonists.
How has the Japanese perception of these events evolved throughout the years, if at all?
You can read more about Catholicism's complicated history during Japan's Sengoku and Edo periods, and Japan's "hidden Christians" here.
Catholicism had its greatest influence in Japan when it had the favour of warlord Oda Nobunaga and several converted daimyo, or samurai lords, between the 1550s to the late 1590s. The port of Nagasaki, the only port where foreigners were allowed, became an important centre of Christian learning, Western study and missionary work. Rivalries between Portuguese Jesuits and the Spanish orders for conversions, their aggressive evangelization and political meddling in Japan's domestic affairs raised suspicions about their activities.
The arrival of Protestant English and Dutch traders, with Europe's Wars of Religion raging, further undermined the Jesuits' influence and stoked Japan's fears of foreign invasion by Portugal or Spain. The Tokugawa shogunate banned Catholicism in 1614, ordering the expulsion of all missionaries and persecution of converts. This ban would remain in force until the opening up of Japan to foreign trade in the 1850s and the Mejii Restoration in the 1860s.