Technological Relations

The first major wave of technological trade happened in the 16th-17th century with the introduction of firearms into the Japanese arsenal. There was a lack of astounding technological trade until the era directly after the Second World War. This is the point where the U.S. made reparations to Japan and helped build their current economic systems. The introduction of technologies like car manufacturing and consumer products were Post World War 2 methods of re-establishing a firm economy in Japan. The Japanese then took these technologies and ran with them, developing new (or applying old) work philosophies to the development of products.

These philosophies are what caused the consumer electronic industry to become dominated by Japan in less than 40 years. The flow of technological information hit a big turning point in 1975; this is the first year "technologically related good were shipped across the pacific more than they were shipped across the Atlantic. It has never changed back.

In Japan, the consumer electronics technologies tend to be 6 months to a year ahead of what is seen in America. Conversely technological business solutions are often more advanced in America by nearly the same margin. There is one exception to the generalization that consumer electronics are more apt to flow from Japan to America: PC's are typically more likely to travel across the Pacific from America rather than to America.