Wow. Now that's a pretty bold statement to make! I wonder how they got to the point where they are today???

Japan doesn't dominate the name-brand high-end audio world either... Anyway, reasoning for my bold comment. Content as opposed to hardware platform. The parts in all devices come from around the world and are manufactured in large part in the East (there exist a lot of chip factories all over Europe and NA as well though, belonging to a wide range of parent companies). That said, the compelling content for the European market and North American markets for these types of goods have been dominated by people within these two regions. In some ways because of divergent needs of consumers here and in the East.

I can't think of too many UI-driven devices that I own or use (or have used) that originate in Japan. Again, something like a simple knob-based stereo component doesn't count for this comparison.

The giants' foray into MP3 has been abysmal to date. The great strengths from Japan, IMO, are manufacturing processes. I'm trying to stay on topic and limit the cross-comparisons. The landscape changes from product category to product category. For instance, the day I buy a vehicle from one of the big-3 US automakers is the day I have a frontal labotomy.

Bruno