What you missed in your evaluation of Japan is that unlike America which is ditching manufacturing in favor of service industries Japan switched from cheap goods manufacturing to high end goods manufacturing.
Did I? Here is what I said in that specific post:
Japan was a low cost producer in the 50's-60's-70's...only when they became successful in the higher value industries AND improved their quality levels did they become an economic power.
If you include agriculture, which IS a form of manufacturing, our economy is still primarily a manufacturing economy, well over 50% of total output.