[arupchak]

I was hoping for more insight into why the Japanese factories are unable to keep up with the lower costs from other Asian factories.

Japanese manufacturing has always had a strong reputation with continuous improvement in their factories. This supposedly leads to lowered costs through efficiency. I am assuming that even with the decades of improvements, the lower wages of the other countries are still able to bring down the overall cost.

[stonemetal]

It depends on how much lower income countries copy their innovations in manufacturing process.

[minikomi]

Comparing the costs of living might be a good place to start looking