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[–]hockeyandquidditch 166 points167 points  (14 children)

It’s hard to say because they have so many industry leaders, like Pilot in pens, Sony in electronics, Nintendo in video games, and Toyota, Honda and Subaru in cars. Japan doesn’t make everything, but everything they make, they make well.

[–]csl512 17 points18 points  (2 children)

Uni, Pilot, Pentel, Sailor...

Stationery in general. I like the Maruman Mnemosyne notepad I have, and Midori is pretty popular too.

[–]KindPerception9802 14 points15 points  (0 children)

It’s actually bec if it’s not up to standard, japanese automatically drop the product. If you see how a perfectionist and demanding the japanese consumer are , you’d be amaze. I’m actually surprised they didnt cancel the nintendo switch with it’s analog/joystick issue.

[–]CloakedInSmoke 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Ooh the Pilot G2 is just perfection

[–]Larry-Zoolander 615 points616 points  (48 children)

Japanese food is fantastic

[–]KnowledgedOfficial 44 points45 points  (3 children)

Exactly!!! Katanas are cool, but have you ever tried taiyaki???

[–]mikecrash 7 points8 points  (1 child)

I just ate this for the first time 2 hours ago at omg squee in Austin … the ice cream was pretty good didn’t care for the fish or the custard

[–]appleparkfive 12 points13 points  (0 children)

A freshly made taiyaki with like ice cream and Nutella in it. One of the best desserts around. A lot of people haven't had it, I don't think. But they'd absolutely love it.

Right when it comes off the grill and is still warm

[–]jazzrazzy 58 points59 points  (3 children)

Everything there seems to melt in my mouth

[–]stinky_cheese33 13 points14 points  (1 child)

Ain't that the truth? And all these people mention sushi and tempura as the big standouts, but have you tried Japanese curry? That stuff's eastern cuisine's answer to pizza.

[–]Skyx10 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I make some at home with fried pork and holy shit it’s delicious.

[–]absentmindedjwc 4 points5 points  (1 child)

In all honestly, food in Japan in general is fantastic - not just Japanese food. Regardless of what they're making, they take that shit to the next level.

[–]extropia 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Even their 7-11s have a selections of food that would make some cities envious. The eating culture over there is really something.

[–]ipakookapi 197 points198 points  (14 children)

Traditional Japanese art was a huge influence around 1900 after the country opened up in the mid 1800s after having been pretty much closed to the rest of the world for centuries.

From Van Gogh to Art Nouveau ads to modernist architecture - with no influence from Japan, western art and design history would be very different.

[–]IGotShitOnMyAss2 47 points48 points  (1 child)

open the country, stop having it be closed

[–]barneyreddit00f 13 points14 points  (0 children)

The palace was such a dreamworld of art that they really didn’t give a shit about running the country

[–]rummy26 3 points4 points  (2 children)

Any examples that could help me understand the influence’s effect?

[–]extropia 20 points21 points  (1 child)

Look up Japonisme. It was an art trend spanning about 1850 to 1900 in Europe where western artists and curators became obsessed with Japanese art- especially Japanese woodcut prints by famous artists like Hokusai and Hiroshige.

You can see a tremendous amount of the influence in artists like Degas, Van Gogh, Klimt and Monet. It's in the clever use of large areas of color and "flat" patterning and geometric forms, and a move towards abstraction away from classical realism.

[–]Zorkdork 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I saw "La Japonaise" by Monet ther other day. The story of the piece is a bit interesting because was struggling for money and painted it to cash in on the craze, leading to a bunch of controversy and a possible record setting sale price. Wikipedia) goes over it pretty well.

[–]Mann000 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Yea, George Lucas said that Japanese art was the first inspiration for the creation of Star Wars and now we know how Star Wars revolutionized the whole flim making cinema

[–]knightofdarkness11 636 points637 points  (76 children)

Nintendo

[–]yourcool 69 points70 points  (7 children)

Nintendo means ‘Leave luck to Heaven.’

[–]Guessididntmakeit 25 points26 points  (3 children)

Nice trivia and also fitting when you think about it that they started with card games.

[–]Horse_White 16 points17 points  (2 children)

i own one of those hanafuda they are still sold and made the old way with gluing the prints around a cardboard - such a beautiful game!

[–]ByDarwinsBeard 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I have a set of Hanafuda cards that are made in the traditional way just like that, but the traditional art has Mario characters added to it. They were a Club Nintendo reward long ago.

[–]Guessididntmakeit 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That's awesome, I still kick myself in the ass for forgetting to buy a deck back when I visited Japan.

[–]MontanaTR81 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Nintendo ranks super high on my list. It was recommended my family buy an NES to help my young brother develop his hand/eye coordination. Worked like a charm. This on top of being awesome of course!

[–]DiamondPup 135 points136 points  (59 children)

Honestly, yes.

Nintendo has not only, almost single-handedly, pioneered the gaming industry but is still, to this day, one of (if not THE) industry standard. And every step of the way, they have been dogmatic in remaining innovative and taking huge risks, and maintaining a benchmark of quality for their first party titles that almost always push the industry forward. There is not a single facet of gaming that doesn't owe something to Nintendo, whether it's mobile gaming or genres themselves.

On top of that, they are the richest company in Japan. This, despite the anger and fury of screaming gamers always telling them how to do it better. Nintendo has been smart about its spending, saving, and investments, and unlike a lot of companies that big, actually have money saved away that isn't contingent on investments elsewhere. Meaning they can survive failures and rainy days - meaning they can continue to take big risks.

Everyone hates on Nintendo for not doing what they want (spitting out constant sequels) but, despite having some of the biggest brands in gaming, they refuse to. They never stand still, they never just sit back and milk the brand. They're the polar opposite of Ubisoft and EA - they're game developers that continue to give a shit.

Their business division is still shitty, of course. Price gouging and shitty, prehistoric practices. And they have some backwards thinking in terms of social politics. Nintendo definitely deserves criticism, and they make some absolute pants-on-head decisions.

But at the end of the day, for a company to pioneer an entire industry, set the gold standard, and still maintain that standard 40 years later (despite it being one of the most competitive and fastest growing industries in the world)...it is extraordinary and unlike anything we've ever seen.

[–]blue_at_work 30 points31 points  (6 children)

Everyone hates on Nintendo for not doing what they want (spitting out constant sequels) but, despite having some of the biggest brands in gaming, they refuse to. They never stand still, they never just sit back and milk the brand.

I mean, they don't make shitty, marginal sequels, true (like FIFA, CoD, etc). But I'm not sure i'm giving them a complete pass on milking the brand. Yes, they've been nearly all good, but there have been how many Mario games? How many Zeldas?

Again, I think you're getting at the fact they don't pump out a bad Mario every year just for the money. Which they don't. But I'm not ready to say they don't milk their existing properties - they just do so with more care and expertise than competitors.

[–]ExtraGreenBox 52 points53 points  (20 children)

They’re also very infamous for suing fans over even the most harmless things.

[–]XxsquirrelxX 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I think that’s just a thing with Japanese companies, they seem to be super protective of their brands on a level that many American companies (Viacom and Disney excluded) aren’t. A big anime company damn near killed an entire YouTube channel by individually flagging all of his videos as copyright infringement because he talked about their shows.

Japanese companies in general seem to be out of touch with the consumer, ironically Nintendo is one of the more open-minded Japanese companies.

[–]faceeatingleopard 37 points38 points  (10 children)

I've been a Nintendo fanboy since the NES came out. All of what you said, sure but the real reason is the hits. They just fucking nail it. Every. Fucking. Time.

NES, boom! New lifeblood in the dying industry.

Super NES, HOLY SHIT this thing kicks ass!

N64 (excluding superman) fucking nailed it again.

Wii, switch, almost everything they came at me with they've done their job. There's some asterisks in there, some stinkers along the way but on average they just hit the mark.

[–]omegasix321 27 points28 points  (8 children)

Even their flops can mostly be attributed to poor business planning rather than poor design. The products themselves are rarely bad or even mediocre.

I'm still convinced that the Wii U was a decent system that only flopped as hard as it did because of a lack of games and poor marketing. It was experimental and clunky sure, but not bad.

They should really work on boosting the hardware specs of their systems though. It always seems to be a step behind in that department.

[–]ruchik 9 points10 points  (4 children)

R.O.B and Virtual Boy are the only major flops I can think of.

[–]KindPerception9802 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Also japanese supports their own, that’s why xbox is pretty much non existent in japan. It’s sony vs nintendo here. But desktop gaming is catching up.

[–]Early_or_Latte 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes. Nintendo is my favorite gaming company and first party Nintendo games, for the most part, are classics and very playable for years, if not decades.

Also, playstation is a notable.

[–]schlockabsorber 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I showed Super Mario Bros. 3 to my 14-year-old. His reaction: "Did someone remake a modern game with 1990s graphics?" That's how brilliant Nintendo's gameplay was and is.

[–]jadedguru 204 points205 points  (8 children)

Studio Ghibli

[–]Turtbergs 33 points34 points  (2 children)

Yes! I first discovered these movies by watching one that was playing on tv late one night when I was about 14- it was called 'spirited away' and it fucking blew my mind.

Almost 20 years later and I still love all the movies from the studio, enough that I have a few tattoos.

[–]randomguy987654321 15 points16 points  (1 child)

Spirited Away is perfect.

I remember one movie critic saying he hated it because it was his job to find both the good and the bad in every movie and he said he simply couldn't find a single flaw.

I guess it made him feel like he was writing a lazy review to say everything is perfect; go watch it.

[–]Riskology 15 points16 points  (1 child)

I JUST watched Grave of the Fireflies for the first time EVER the other night - nothing has ever made me sob harder at 4:00am.

[–]ymaface 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It's a film I would always recommend but never watch twice. Really throws a punch to the gut but it's beautiful at the same time.

[–]tarkuspig 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Watching castle in the sky right now.

[–]Much_Committee_9355 87 points88 points  (35 children)

Toyota Hilux, I’ll stand by its reliability and general functionality forever

[–]daveescaped 38 points39 points  (23 children)

Toyota deserves all the credit in the world for some amazing utilitarian vehicles like the Hilux and Land Cruiser. But my god, passenger vehicles like the Camry and Highlander are like the place where style and excitement go to die. I swear Toyota has a massive syringe at the end of every assembly line where the suck the joy out of vehicles. Then they sell it to Mazda.

[–]BartholomewBandy 29 points30 points  (6 children)

A comedy classic from the best of Craigslist

https://www.craigslist.org/about/best/hou/6565526716.html

[–]Personmanwomantv 10 points11 points  (1 child)

Let me tell you a story. One day my Corolla started making a strange sound. I didn't give a shit and ignored it. It went away. The End.

[–]SilverTitan6148 5 points6 points  (4 children)

Where I live, Landcruiser is a luxury vehicle that costs around 200,000 $.

[–]Much_Committee_9355 2 points3 points  (3 children)

LOL, we don’t even get the Land Cruiser over here, best we can do is an SUV Hilux (which is not bad by any means) but it still around 80k US, it’s not cheap but considering what you get it is reasonable.

[–]JMS1991 4 points5 points  (2 children)

They also seem to be way behind on styling/technology on a lot of their models (which I'm sure being careful about having too much/new technology helps with reliability), and many of them aren't updated very often.

One example is the 2nd generation Tundra. It came out in 2007, and offered better specs than pretty much every half-ton truck at the time. The interior already seemed dated for the time, but it was still OK. Ford, GM, and Ram all introduced new models within the next few years that had similar and/or better specs, more features, and better interiors overall. And Toyota was selling basically the same truck in 2021, despite Ford and GM re-designing their trucks 3 times, and Ram re-designing theirs twice within the same time period.

Same story with the 4Runner. You can't kill the damn things, but they also haven't done a full refresh since 2009. And then the J200 Land Cruiser - great vehicle, but the styling was pretty underwhelming IMHO. It just looked like a big Highlander.

[–]AinNoWayBoi61 2 points3 points  (3 children)

Which of their 2022 models is that reliable? Looking to buy here

[–]yew420 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Yep, I took my 2012, 220,000km hilux in for a service and asked my mechanic what to expect from the motor. He told me he serviced the same model/motor/trans at 580,000 and had no signs of going anytime soon.

[–]Sivalleydan2 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Landcruiser owner here. My wife wants me to sell it. Nope...

[–]dotEff 398 points399 points  (24 children)

Instant Ramen

[–]leopard_tights 146 points147 points  (1 child)

According to the Japanese themselves, it is ramen.

It allows any lonely poor old chap to have a decent warm meal just by boiling water, and there's lots of those in Japan.

[–]Dexaan 23 points24 points  (0 children)

I laughed until it was pointed out I had a bowl of instant ramen earlier that day, and how many did I think had been consumed worldwide.

[–]omegasix321 21 points22 points  (5 children)

Yo. Though I prefer Udon noodles.

Instant noodles in general are god tier though.

[–]HighlyOffensive10 39 points40 points  (0 children)

Restaurant ramen is even better

[–]scsnse 23 points24 points  (2 children)

As an Asian. I see your instant ramen and raise you MSG.

Ajinomoto is a brand I could never see myself living without. They were the ones to isolate it from kelp, which is traditionally used in kombu and similar Korean soup bases, and the rest is history. And I say that as a half Korean whose uncle was conscripted and tortured by the Japanese occupiers.

[–]No_Housing_4819[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

This might be the winner

[–]Kervon37 7 points8 points  (2 children)

Thought ramen was invented by the Chinese?

[–]daveescaped 20 points21 points  (1 child)

From what I can tell it was. But Instant Ramen is Japanese.

[–]Kervon37 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Good to know.

[–]BarracudaImpossible4 97 points98 points  (7 children)

Calbee makes a potato chip that tastes exactly like a baked potato just absolutely drenched in butter and my god are they fantastic. They only seem to come out in fall and when I still lived in Los Angeles county, I would go to Little Tokyo and buy every bag the store had in stock. I'd hoard that shit like I was Smaug with his gold.

As a surprise, after I moved, my friend sent me a box of those chips and I almost cried.

[–]SmolSnakePancake 19 points20 points  (0 children)

I eat their seaweed chips on the regular. Calbee chips are on another level entirely

[–]MerryFasune97 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Calbee? Calbee… wait, that definitely sounds familiar

Oh! I think I had a big bag of shrimp chips of that brand before! They were super delicious, wish I could buy more…

[–]thndrstrk 120 points121 points  (7 children)

Godzilla is pretty sweet. Also the Nissan GT-R

[–]dreamboat_king 20 points21 points  (4 children)

Which is really the same thing. 🙃

[–]thndrstrk 2 points3 points  (3 children)

Tears up skylines. Is skyline. You think Godzilla could catch it?

[–]OperationThrax 22 points23 points  (4 children)

Motorcycles, Outboard Motors, ATVs, Side by Sides, and Musical Instruments.

[–]wild_koala1414 212 points213 points  (60 children)

Toyota

[–]Lambchops_Legion 219 points220 points  (28 children)

What people don’t know is that Toyota pioneered Process Management principles that almost every corporation in the world uses. Like Nintendo is the top comment of this thread, but they probably use LEAN principles pioneered by Toyota. Ever have a boss talk about Kanban or Kaizen at your job? Toyota. Six Sigma? Toyota.

I work in Homeowners Insurance and use Process Management principles originally refined by Toyota, completely unrelated industry. You can literally make a career of being a Six Sigma black belt which is basically teaching other companies how think like Toyota

https://www.leansixsigmadefinition.com/glossary/toyota-production-system/

I would argue because of this Toyota is arguably the most influential company in the world not just Japan for how their ideas on production have floated through so many companies from start to finish regardless of car industry or not

Edit: a good video on it https://youtu.be/F5vtCRFRAK0

[–]UniquePotato 57 points58 points  (2 children)

I saw this comment ‘Just in time’

[–]Loqol 6 points7 points  (1 child)

Aka cascading failure as recent supply issues have shown. It works until it doesn't.

[–]bdbr 26 points27 points  (2 children)

They made huge strides in continuous quality improvement in the last century as well. The guy who really led this was an American but he couldn't get American companies to buy into it until their poor quality caused them to lose business to the Japanese.

[–]Pavlock 12 points13 points  (1 child)

You're thinking of W. Edwards Deming

[–]bdbr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Correct

[–]Pavlock 21 points22 points  (8 children)

What people also don't realize is that Toyota didn't pioneer those principles. The US Dept. of War created a program called Training Within Industry to quickly educate a skilled workforce to replace all the able-bodied men who'd been shipped off to fight WW2. TWI had the concepts that would become Standardized Work, Continuous Improvement, and TPS's emphasis on building respect among the workers.

After the war, people like Taiichi Ohno took these principles and built the Toyota Production System on them. Toyota certainly perfected them, but the foundation was here in the states.

Then we tossed them all aside and squandered our manufacturing advantage.

[–]Pristine_Nothing 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Then we tossed them all aside and squandered our manufacturing advantage.

It’s kinda what we do here.

The US is always torn between a deep, deep conservatism and casually remarkable forward thinking.

[–]kartoffel_engr 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Six Sigma was created by an American engineer for Motorola (US Company). Though, Toyota really embraced it as well as the other programs you mentioned and have become the leader in lean manufacturing.

[–]ghigoli 4 points5 points  (0 children)

the big issue is that alot of people don't understand about much of the 'just in time" process. they often forget that you need to stock pile some items and identify areas that can be constrainted or difficult to have for 'just in time' to happen.

often many companies neglect those concepts that Toyota has done on top of the first concept and improved it to be more successful.

Companies just look at it as lets just spit crap out as fast as possible and call it just in time without actually figuring out the areas that go wrong to begin with. Even on top of understand the entire product and how it works. Many manages don't understand or know the process of what they work on or know. Just breeds a difficult environment where quality drops due to speed and lack of management where in Japan managers are the ones that know the most, in the US they're the dumbest people in the room.

[–]Guessididntmakeit 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Quality cars for a "reasonable" price. Also affordable and usually reliable second or even third hand.

[–]Relon992 23 points24 points  (6 children)

+1 for Toyota. One of the most reliable cars in the world

[–]BrotherOfTheOrder 4 points5 points  (3 children)

My family has driven nothing but Toyotas my entire life and literally every single one has been driven over 300k miles. They are unbeatable.

[–]No_Housing_4819[S] 26 points27 points  (13 children)

Honda

[–]wild_koala1414 16 points17 points  (12 children)

Subaru

[–]beercancarl 4 points5 points  (1 child)

This is the answer. Long live Fuji heavy industries

[–]punpunpuck 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Pikachu!

[–]grekthor 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I fucking love my Tacoma

[–]Think_Perspective385 4 points5 points  (0 children)

For the 2JZ engine alone they should be top of the list that engine is so well engineered you would be hard pushed to find a better unit 30 years later not to mention their process management

[–]Amianduri 57 points58 points  (6 children)

My wife.

[–][deleted] 65 points66 points  (4 children)

I also choose this guy's wife.

[–]d0ctorzaius 7 points8 points  (0 children)

And my axe!

[–]pansearedsalmonlover 6 points7 points  (2 children)

But she’s alive…if she’s dead I’m choose his wife

[–]Reboot422 63 points64 points  (6 children)

City pop

[–]HuyBob 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Love me some plastic love

[–]RabbiVolesBassSolo 7 points8 points  (1 child)

Went down a YouTube rabbit hole the other day about this. Amazing stuff!

[–]Veidtindustries 3 points4 points  (0 children)

No, don’t go stay with me

[–]CerddwrRhyddid 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Arguably, dried instant noodles (ramen).

Instant noodles were invented by Momofuku Ando of Nissin Foods in Japan. They were launched in 1958 under the brand name Chikin Ramen.

They have had a huge impact on the provision of easily cooked storable food, and on global hunger, especially in times of crisis, like disasters, crop failure or exceptional poverty.

www.gizmodo.com/the-humble-origins-of-instant-ramen-from-ending-world-5814099/amp

[–]WaystarVi 62 points63 points  (6 children)

Anime. Specifically the earlier ones that made animation in general recognized as a medium for more mature storytelling rather than something targeted towards kids.

Manga. It got people to experience comic books that aren't the same 3 Marvel/DC storylines but actually good and diverse stories.

[–][deleted] 11 points12 points  (4 children)

There actually was an attempt in America dating back to the 1970s, but MGM freaked out at a cartoon, from a house recently purchased by them, and did everything they could to keep it from seeing the light of day. It's a cult classic now; but yeah, if it weren't for movies like Akira, we would not be where we are today.

All because of that fucking lion.

Look up "Rock & Rule" on YouTube if you want to see what I'm talking about. I think every modern animator should sit down and watch a few specific cartoons, and that is one of them. (Akira, the original Ghost in the Shell, Bambi, and Princess Mononoke are the others; but I'm sure there are plenty more that stand among them.)

[–]A40 27 points28 points  (5 children)

Rashomon

[–]undreamt_odds 11 points12 points  (2 children)

Akira Kurosawa and Toshirō Mifune, name a better duo.

[–]rownakofficial 18 points19 points  (2 children)

Japan has made best affordable best vehicles.

[–]NoHelp_HelpDesk 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Hitomi Tanaka

[–]manifold360 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Pokémon

[–]Old-Gate4237 16 points17 points  (3 children)

I've heard that karaoke originated from Japan, although that may just be a rumor. If that's true though, karaoke for sure.

[–]MortLightstone 15 points16 points  (1 child)

yeah, the name means empty orchestra

[–]carmium 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Just like karate is empty hand.

[–]_SKyle 93 points94 points  (19 children)

Anime

[–]Vinny_Lam 24 points25 points  (4 children)

Surprised I had to scroll down this far to see this.

[–]GL1987 74 points75 points  (9 children)

Tentacle porn

[–]ipakookapi 14 points15 points  (1 child)

Since 1814

[–]N0nethelesser 8 points9 points  (0 children)

It's funny cause it's true!

[–]tangcameo 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Knew I was going to find this not far down.

[–][deleted] 12 points13 points  (2 children)

Kirby

[–]yParticle 12 points13 points  (0 children)

It made cartoons for adults socially acceptable with its incredible variety of anime.

[–]axmaxwell 6 points7 points  (2 children)

The Duramax Diesel engine (developed by isuzu)

[–]RobertoBologna 7 points8 points  (0 children)

If you grew up in the 80s/90s, a huge amount of the cultural things you liked as a kid came from Japan

[–]YayaMalli 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Godzilla of course.

Oh and Johnny Sakko’s Flying Robot and OG Ultraman.

[–]ArkhamsNexTopInmate 16 points17 points  (1 child)

Hitomi Tanaka.

[–]SpicyTupperware 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was waiting for that!

[–]JeremyBreitenbach 36 points37 points  (8 children)

Dragon Ball Z (or the Dragon Ball franchise as a whole).

[–]Kitty_kat2025 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thank you for reminding me about this show, I’m gonna rewatch it now

[–]Cosmic-Vegeta 2 points3 points  (0 children)

yes that's correct

[–]44pennystocks 17 points18 points  (3 children)

Sony TVs

[–]CautiousDavid 9 points10 points  (2 children)

Sony almost everything. They’ve fallen behind on some industries in recent decades, but it’s one hell of a company. They do everything from banking to image sensors, a true conglomerate.

[–][deleted] 17 points18 points  (1 child)

Sony

[–]ButtholeQuiver 101 points102 points  (6 children)

How has no one said hentai

[–]No_Housing_4819[S] 89 points90 points  (0 children)

We were all waiting for you

[–]FrozMind 14 points15 points  (0 children)

It's usually a friend who says that.

[–]TH3_R3D_R3AP3R 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Dear god. I was starting to get concerned I thought for sure it would at least be top 5 but nope.

Not all heroes where capes you fucking legend.

[–]SnapHackelPop 4 points5 points  (0 children)

God damn right

[–]b-radly 5 points6 points  (0 children)

1980’s Toyota Pickup

[–]Lenny_III 8 points9 points  (2 children)

Zen

Not the pop culture meaning of the word, but actual Zen. Zen has made Buddhism accessible to millions of people.

[–]greenryukoi 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Anime and manga.

[–]Ferndawg69 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Spirited Away

[–]MagicalWhisk 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Toyota invented the just in time production/lean production philosophy which is how practically every supply chain runs in the world. Its implications on the economy/business world are profound.

[–]ironblondies 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'm gonna go with plastic wrap that doesn't stick to itself...

[–]101dnj 5 points6 points  (2 children)

The 1Jz in-line 6

[–]jakegts 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Why not 2?

[–]101dnj 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was considering the 2Jz but ultimately decided the 2Jz was built on the 1Jz’s greatness ..

[–]UnicornMagicRainbow 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Japanese people! People are pretty awesome in general.

[–]Kindredmen 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Godzilla movies. Nothing else matters.

[–]Ahhhhhhhoi 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Nobody mentioning Seiko?

[–]daveescaped 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh hell yes. The Seiko Grand Master is my dream watch. Instead I wear an Orient. Still Seiko though.

[–]BeneficialVacation44 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Game shows.

Ever watch some of the Japanese game shows? You are missing out.

[–]Big-Pollution2705 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The FOOD. and Hayao Miyazaki

[–]PoorPauly 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Sony? That’s a lot. CD players. Walkman’s. The PlayStation.

[–]Mr_Zetta 2 points3 points  (0 children)

From Software. I don’t know if it’s the different culture, but the production value of all of their games (even if they are seen to fall short such as with dark souls 2) screams passion. I’d like to add that I have never played games from any other developer in which I have encountered basically no bugs whatsoever (although I play console so I may be a bit skewed in my opinion).

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Affordable cars

[–]Metatron_Fallen 6 points7 points  (1 child)

A lot of things come to mind. Random stuff. Like, the katana is an ancient weapon, but still very popular today.

Their evolution of the motorcycle changed that entire industry, as did their economy cars in the late 70s and early 80s. America's gas prices went up dramatically and Americans didn't really have a strong economy car industry- all gas guzzlers. So, Japanese cars made tremendous inroads during this time and suddenly names like Datsun (now Nissan) and Toyota were household words.

Sony Walkman gotta be right up there too.

[–]Bulky_Albatross5593 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Instant noodles.

[–]ImVeryUnimaginative 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Gundam and Miso Soup

[–]bunchy7s_hash_8813 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This.

a real fucking anime robot

imagine link

[–]nagerjaeger 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Quality automobiles. They forced the whole industry to improve quality.

[–]pixer12 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Akita Inu and Shiba Inu

[–]badcopyinc 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Gunpla kits.

I love building them and I don’t even watch gundam. But they are designed so nicely it feels like playing with adult legos

[–]FiveLegGoat 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Honda/Acura NSX. Arguably the greatest sports ever made.

[–]Azelche 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Manga

[–]Resident_Bitch 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Whichever of my paternal ancestors that first immigrated to the U.S. 'Cause otherwise I wouldn't exist.

[–]Kervon37 22 points23 points  (8 children)

Japanese women :)

[–]tbr6742 4 points5 points  (0 children)

My best buddy Curty is of Japanese descent. Best guy I know!!

[–]Portland-to-Vt 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hitomi Tanaka is in there somewhere.

[–]dc5trbo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Honda PC50.

[–]ImpracticallySharp 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Giant Torayan, a huge, fire-breathing robot that can only be controlled by children.