<font color="red"> Many of the Japanese compacts have a creeper gear that is slower than you can go with a HST and maintain a constant speed. </font>
True, but not all tractors have creeper gears. Many have a 1st gear that, when the PTO speed is correct, have the tractor moving a 0.75mph or faster. In many soil conditions that is simply too fast. If the tractor has a creeper gear, I would agree with you that it would be easily capable of operating the tiller properly.
But to the original post and the original question, I don't know if the tractor in the original post is HST or GEAR, and I don't know why Kubota suggests such a small tiller, but it surprises me that the tiller recommended would be so small. Perhaps it is a HST versus GEAR issue, perhaps not. I've tilled with both types of tractors, I see a lot of advantages to HST for operating a tiller, mostly as it relates to altering ground speed to match ground conditions. Generally I want a tiller that is not so large that I can make one pass at full depth and get the job done. I know a lot of folks recommend multiple passes, personally I'd rather have a tiller that is a bit smaller, but capable of being run at full depth on the first pass. I use a 50" tiller on a 30hp Kubota, many people probably think I'm nuts, but I believe I complete the job faster by making one pass at full depth than I could if I had to make multiple passes to achieve the same results.