[redwall_hp]

Yep. Growing up in the 90s, Japan was the undisputed king of cool, affordable entry level sports cars. RX-7, Integra, Impreza WRX, et al.

Yamaha, Korg an Roland were the defining instrument producers of the 80s and 90s. Few things have altered the course of popular music as much as the TR-909 and TR-808, M1, DX-7, Juno, Jupiter. All of electronic music grew out of those.

The Walkman and Discman were iconic.

Honda was building P3 and ASIMO. The PlayStation 1/2 and Nintendo 64/GameCube were a thing.

I didn't even get into anime, the language or music from there until decades later. But all of the cool things came from Japan back then. Honestly, they still kind of do.

[ompogUe]

As the owner of a Juno 106, I can't disagree. In the 90's, to me, it was Panasonic video gear that I found amazing. Had to take apart a couple of toughbooks tonight, and they are great little machines.

Although, to me, what I've always loved about Japan is how they will take every medium that arrives on the scene and treat it with loving craftsmanship. From jazz to skateboarding to yo-yos.

[redwall_hp]

Exactly. There's a lot of value placed on expert craftsmanship or just...being an extreme nerd about some niche thing, as well as on the act of creating things. Whatever you're interested in, there's some random person in Japan who's really good at it.

It resonates with me, because I get uncomfortable if I do too much passive consumption and am not making something.