You could contribute to open source. This can take a few forms. A few small PRs on well known projects can go a long way. Many projects are looking for docs and better test coverage, these can be easy ways in.
You can make something on your own and open source it. I'd suggest something small but complete with some sort of interesting novelty to it. Make sure any projects have interesting READMEs. Don't just follow a TODO list tutorial in language X and stick it up GitHub.
You could volunteer your tech skills somewhere. Even contacting charities and seeing if they need help with anything.
You could try write a blog, but with a specific focus on an area that interests you. I was out of work for a while and planned to do this for horizontal database scaling for example.
Any of these things look infinitely better to a potential employer than a blank space.
Finally, it's really important to own the narrative. Put on your CV you've been out of work but looking for a new opportunity. List the things you've been doing. Maybe there's a framing you can put on it, like a career break. Don't be ashamed by it, stay positive. Good luck.
But it's ironic, too, because this article (unlike a lot of the ones that pop up on the regular 3-6 month cadence of "why is the Japanese web so weird?" posts) does nail the point that the negative perception of what we "westerners" feel is "horrible" about Japan's seemingly insane attachment to the MySpace aesthetic isn't shared by a lot of Japanese people, who in turn find our modern web design bland, info-deficient, and simplistic to the point of simplemindedness.
(Which is definitely not a sentiment I personally share — I do feel Rakuten's website is "horrible" — but that's the point: design is about audiences; there is no truth to be had.)
> I do feel Rakuten's website is "horrible"