While you express that you don’t consider the number of international students important in terms of the experience you’re looking for, it can be important to look at in terms of gauging your prospects. A decent-sized international population at a school is often an indicator that there are at least enough spots reserved for internationals to make for reasonable odds of acceptance.
I agree that you don’t need an undergrad business degree if you plan to get an MBA. A business or econ minor is fine too. An econ major is great but not an absolute must. As with med school and law school, you can major in anything you want as long as you complete the prerequisites. What’s catching my eye here is your enthusiasm for Japanese culture (and language?). There would be nothing wrong with minoring or even majoring in Japanese language and culture. It’s a very useful knowledge base for business.
Let’s look at U of Rochester, as a proof-of-concept example of a mid-sized LAC-ish university with a flexible curriculum that would allow you to explore multiple interests. You’re actually required to choose “clusters” of classes in completely different areas from your major concentration. In addition to Japanese language and traditional/historical culture, there’s a whole Japanese Pop Culture cluster: https://secure1.rochester.edu/registrar/CSE/clusterView.php?clusterNumber=H1JPN010 There’s quite a lot offered in the field of photography and digital media studies, too https://www.sas.rochester.edu/dms/undergraduate/index.html The economics department offers majors in econ and financial econ, and also a business major with multiple tracks. There are also econ and business minors, should you decide to major in something else. There’s an International Relations major/minor in the Poli Sci department, a certificate in Mathematical Modeling in Econ/PoliSci… and you could put all this together as you choose, in the context of their “Build Your Own Curriculum” philosophy. https://www.rochester.edu/college/academics/curriculum.html About 20% of Rochester undergrads are international, and it appears to be a match for your stats, with about a 30% admit rate.
Other schools to look at:
Claremont McKenna (admits almost 70% of class ED - ED admit rate is 32%, vs 7% RD)
Tufts
Emory (fills more than half of entering class with ED)
WashU (fills more than half of entering class with ED)
Wake Forest
Wesleyan (fills more than half of entering class with ED)
William & Mary
Brandeis
Macalester
U of Richmond
Santa Clara
Fordham
Lehigh
Bucknell
TCNJ
Larger private U’s that might worth considering
Northeastern
Boston University
USC
Tulane
U of Miami
NYU
Plus there are many large public U’s that are excellent and worth a look if you’re looking at big schools
SAFETIES:
U of Puget Sound, a LAC of 2500 students in Tacoma, WA, accepts about 80% of applicants, but it’s a has a competitive Business Leadership Program that might be a good fit. https://www.pugetsound.edu/academics/departments-and-programs/undergraduate/school-of-business-leadership/business-leadership-program/ Puget Sound has majors and minors in business (business administration or international emphasis), economics, environmental policy, global development, and international political economy. It also has an Asian Studies department with both majors and minors in Japanese language and culture.
https://www.pugetsound.edu/studentphotog/
U of Denver has a 53% admit rate and also has the more competitive “Pioneer Leadership Program.” It has 5800 undergrads and has both programs in business analytics, accounting, international business, econ, marketing, etc., an active Asian Studies department http://bulletin.du.edu/undergraduate/coursedescriptions/japn/ , and a program in “emergent digital practices.” https://www.du.edu/ahss/edp/degree/index.html