o f c o u r s e

Basically, they just say what Germans call themselves. Like instead of saying Russian, we will say "Russkiy" which is how it is pronounced natively. Japan will be said as Nihon in Japanese, etc.

Yeah. Sakura (cherry tree blossom) + niku (meat) = sakuraniku, horsemeat.
(However hi (skin) + niku = irony, but literally skinmeat... and that's cool).

And let's not even get started on the numerals and dates omg

I don't know, there are more than 2000 letters in the Japanese alphabet so maybe the "niku" used are different when written.

No, they're the same kanji.