Surely the distortion of the perceived distance between areas just north and south of the equator is the same or greater than that between Japan and Hawaii in current maps. In fact it's very difficult to judge the relationship between the north and south in general because they are basically two separate maps.
And while I can see the appeal of centering the maps on the poles, as it is "apolitical" and probably leads to less overall distortion, it prioritises what are, for the vast majority of humans, the least relevant parts of the world, at the expense of all the other parts.
It honestly doesn't strike me as useful at all, though I appreciate that it can be academically interesting to create new map formats that satisfy some manufactured constraints.
And while I can see the appeal of centering the maps on the poles, as it is "apolitical" and probably leads to less overall distortion, it prioritises what are, for the vast majority of humans, the least relevant parts of the world, at the expense of all the other parts.
It honestly doesn't strike me as useful at all, though I appreciate that it can be academically interesting to create new map formats that satisfy some manufactured constraints.