Even in the Middle Eastern'ish backwater that I grew up in, "Made in Japan" was colloquially synonymous with quality and class during the 1980s and 90s.
People prided themselves on owning Japanese TVs, radios, VCRs, sound systems, ACs, flashlights, water dispensers, beauty products and of course, cars and wristwatches.
Now the whole region is inundated with Chinese knockoffs for everything, and people understand they're not as reliable, but they're good enough for the average person and cheap, and that's what matters to the importers and buyers in the end.
Flimsy enclosures whose screws get permanently dislodged if knocked around in the slightest. Rechargeable lamps that dim after a month of regular use. Power strip sockets and power plug prongs of various devices have mismatching dimensions so they wobble all the time, often cutting power. Nothing is properly grounded so you often get static shocks. The same manufacturer making the same products with slight variations under dozens of brand names. There's no way of getting official support for any product, and forget about warranties or refunds.
There are astonishingly identical replicas of all major Japanese and Western products, even the latest iPhones, Apple Watch and game consoles, but of course they don't have the same specs or software when you turn them on (which is usually something like "500 games in 1!" kind of emulator menus.)
But more people can own them and many will never know what they're missing.
People prided themselves on owning Japanese TVs, radios, VCRs, sound systems, ACs, flashlights, water dispensers, beauty products and of course, cars and wristwatches.
Now the whole region is inundated with Chinese knockoffs for everything, and people understand they're not as reliable, but they're good enough for the average person and cheap, and that's what matters to the importers and buyers in the end.
Flimsy enclosures whose screws get permanently dislodged if knocked around in the slightest. Rechargeable lamps that dim after a month of regular use. Power strip sockets and power plug prongs of various devices have mismatching dimensions so they wobble all the time, often cutting power. Nothing is properly grounded so you often get static shocks. The same manufacturer making the same products with slight variations under dozens of brand names. There's no way of getting official support for any product, and forget about warranties or refunds.
There are astonishingly identical replicas of all major Japanese and Western products, even the latest iPhones, Apple Watch and game consoles, but of course they don't have the same specs or software when you turn them on (which is usually something like "500 games in 1!" kind of emulator menus.)
But more people can own them and many will never know what they're missing.