Electronic Design Software

Why are Japanese and Chinese so good in designing electronic gadgets?

i cant understand where do these guys get these brains. i mean i look under my cell cover or behind my computer on my calci or on my wrist watch in my PDA ,I POd it all says either made in China or Japan or Taiwan My question is that what has governments in these countries done to achieve and create a benchmark in their countries achievements?

Public Comments

1. Japan spends the same amount of money to develope gadgets that America spends to develop it's military. Japanese are very smart but so are people from every other country. It's just that the money and drive to create the gadgets is higher. We could do the same if we spent the same amount of money on development.
2. The Japanese are characterized as perfectionists and not innovators. The Japanese have a 1,000 year history of copying and perfecting what they like, and they have always had an admiration for complicated miniturization. You will find that after WWII the Japanese went out and purchased quite a few patterns from all over the world and then marketed them brilliantly. The Japanese and the Chinese find or buy old inventions from Europe and the USA and then remake them better: they are killing us with quality. Example: a 1930 German sextant which went for about $1,500 is made better today by the Chinese and goes for $50.00! The Japanese in the 1950s & 60s bought patterns from RCA or other American electronic firms and just improved the design and marketed them: the Japanese did not invent the television or DVD but they just made them better and cheaper. The Japanese admiration for complication and miniturization, and also the Chinese, can be seen in Japanese Noh masks and in Chinese wooden puzzles. Japanese wooden Noh masks are beautiful creations that have many sophisticated working parts. Chinese puzzles are renown for their complication. This love of sophisticated and complicated structure plus a respect for perfection has been tranferred into the 20th and 21st centuries into industrial pursuits which have not only improved electronics, but automobile engines, outboard motors, pens, kites, models, cartoons, and everything else that can be improved upon. Good for the Japanese and Chinese!
3. As for the China market, and in generally speaking, I don't think they have good design sense. Most development division or designing team in there is from the US, Europe, Japan, etc. And they are decision maker, they assign new design to the local (China) ppl. For example, the iPod, its manufacturer is Taiwanese company. Probably designed by both Taiwan team and Apple computer. But the factory is in China (Shanghai or Tianjing). Apple is the decision maker, Steve Jobs never give up its design. But the labor-cost in China is very cheap. This is why they produce it in China. The basic reason is the cost.