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I am surprised there is not more written (at least in the US) about the reasons Japan has fallen so low. We studied their successes in the 80s and it is critical that we study their failures as well.

I'm not so sure we need to study their successes: the reason they were successful is because we taught them how to manufacture goods. It was done with American ideas that were shaped to fit well in the Japanese society (remember W. Edwards Demming?).

The other thing we did was give them technology for free. My father worked for a large pipe company for most of his career. In the 70's and 80's the company would allow visiting Japanese businessmen to come in and tour the plant, to take all the pictures they wanted, to ask questions. They were training their COMPETITION. Not too smart, eh? But they didn't think there was any danger. Now the Japanese steel industry dumps steel on the market and ruins the American companies.

Interesting. There were cadres of Japanese and Korean engineers coming through Peoria and the Quad Cities areas in decades past, and they were frequently allowed to photograph and scrutinize virtually everything at a number of heavy equipment plants. Of course, it was merely coincidence that Komatsu, etc. turned right around and offered equipment of similar capabilities- they possessed slightly less robustness, but came at a lower price. For the same money, an operator could either buy an asian rig and replace it with another, or buy one U.S.-made machine and maintain the H out of it over the same time period.

Oddly, there are still American businessmen (I work for one) who think that asians "don't get it" because they speak our language with an accent. It is sickening to watch these home-grown smart guys chuckle about putting one over on the Chinese/Japanese/Koreans, all the while blissfully acting like they haven't been bent over and spanked (to use a less rude term) time and again.

"Technology for free" I hate to tell you this, but we are making the same mistake with the Chinese, today, in electronics. A lot of manufacturing has already moved there, and design is slowly filtering in too.

OTOH, only the US really is focussed on getting the best and most efficient "value-chains" out there. Global sourcing of everything. The Asian mindset is still merchantilistic.

Kodak did the very same thing. They invited the Nips to tour the film and camera factories and they copied everything the could (a lot).

Now Fuji, a company subsidized by the Japanese government, is gaining share in the US from an American company. Another big supporter of a photo products not American is Wal-Mart that presented the photofinishing business in every W-M store to Fuji. Go figure! Is there any wonder the trade deficit is so large with Asia? Is it any wonder that American products are becoming endangered species?

How old are you ?

Are you old enough to have owned an American made car back in the 70's ?

Well if you are and you did then you owned a shoddy piece of junk that was worthless after 60,000 miles, that was forever in the shop for one reason or another, and whose hood after a few years bulged uneven with the chassis.

The Japanese success then can be laid to one thing. The Honda Accord and the Nissan Maxima were vastly better than most American cars on the market.