Japanese in pure land maps

I know that Japanese are know to be a top tier civ in mixed land-water maps (ie 4 lakes), but im wondering if they're considered competitive in open and closed land maps (arabia, arena).

I have it understood that their weakness is that they're good at everything, but not amazing at anything (kinda jack of all trades master of none situation).

I just think their versatility makes them rather unpredictable and good at adapting to any situation, and they have some great strengths over other civs (great infantry, arguably the best treuchets, amazing wood saving bonus for dark age and early feudal).

Is there something about them that makes them lag behind? Should i use them in ranked 1v1, or am i putting myself at a disadvantage? Im 964 elo for reference.