Pokemon-go – this blank space on the Pokemon Summary page

The reason its not working is because I am in Japan and it has not been made available for Japan yet.

I was able to download and get my starter but the actual wild Pokemon are unavailable. Why it allows me to get that far, I'm not sure.

Edit: Pokemon-Go works in Japan as of 2016/07/22 No need for anything that I had mentioned as possible solutions in the question.

Borrowing from @Codestrife's answer here

The rustling leaves usually indicate that there are pokemon near that area. Going and walking around near that area gives you a higher chance to encounter Pokémon.

Keep an eye out for rustling leaves, hinting at where critters may be lurking and simply hang out in a suspected region for the increased chance of an encounter. - Source

Therefore, the reason you don't always see Pokémon in rustling grass is because there is only a higher chance to encounter them there and not a guaranteed chance of encountering them. You just have bad luck when you don't encounter them.