Quote:
Originally Posted by decojoe67
That's an interesting thought and a possibility. It's strange that, on the Net, there is little to no information about the company's products. Why would everything be written on the set in English if it wasn't intended to be exported?
|
We (the US) were "occupation forces" from 1945 until 1952 - it could have been produced for in-country use by our occupiers - a substantial number of soldiers and civilians. Antiques Roadshow often features occupation-period stuff that was made and marketed to the US - kimonos, swords, and the like.
It's not hard to see the need - Japan needed industry to employ folks, and we needed products, as everything had to come across the Pacific. So, the Japanese capitalized on our need, and produced products.
Back in 1993, I got schooled on W. Edwards Deming and his impact on Japanese industry - anybody familiar with TQM and continuous quality improvement will recognize the name. I read several biographies on Deming, and learned a bit about the Japanese culture and how it was perfect for implementing Deming's ways. We saw Japanese products as cheap and flimsy, and in a lot of ways they were, compared to our durable goods. But in automaking, electronics, and industry, Japan left us in the dust with their quality-improvement methods, so much so, that Ford and Chrysler adopted their ways - Toyota was beating the crap out of them in initial quality.
Just my 2c.