[fzeroracer]

Software development is still viewed as being a 'lesser' or 'menial' career in Japan by larger corporations. That's why you see so little software come out of Japan these days and also why so many Japanese websites are disasters of design.

Granted this has been slowly changing because of startups spinning up as well as foreign company HQs. Still, wages for developers in Japan are terribly low in most scenarios.

[hkmurakami]

Something to keep in mind is that "software" (usually meaning system integration) is distinct from "web services companies" in Japan.

They've made significant headway in the latter at least for consumer services.