Semi-conductors are one of Japan’s chief exports.
Photo from Mainichi Shimbun.
The Japanese Electronics Industry
From transistor radios and color television sets in the 1960s, Japan developed a many-faceted electronics industry ranging from consumer electronics and computer-guided machine tools in the 1970s and 1980s to semiconductors, computers, and computer peripherals in the 1990s and beyond. The hallmarks of these electronics products have been innovation, miniaturization, and high product quality. Although Japanese consumers also are heavy purchasers of consumer electrical appliances and electronics, the industry has grown largely because of export demand.
Since the mid-1980s Japan has been concentrating domestically on technologically sophisticated goods and new product development, while moving the manufacture of consumer electrical appliances overseas where production costs are lower.
Japan is the world’s number one producer of computer-guided machine tools, and is home to three of the world’s top ten semiconductor companies by sales rank (Toshiba, NEC, and Hitachi).
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