This makes me wonder if it's a hardware vs software problem. Hardware is universal, the same design can appeal to any culture. Cars are still generally hardware products, and even though they're run by software under the hood, the interfaces are still very hardware oriented (though high-end cars are moving toward software interfaces).
Consumer electronics, like smart phones, tablets, media players? The hardware is being commoditized, the interface is heavily touch/software oriented, fewer physical buttons, etc. I wonder if the Japanese aren't at some cultural/linguistic innovation disadvantage there, at least relative to the very software-oriented US.
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This makes me wonder if it's a hardware vs software problem. Hardware is universal, the same design can appeal to any culture. Cars are still generally hardware products, and even though they're run by software under the hood, the interfaces are still very hardware oriented (though high-end cars are moving toward software interfaces).
Consumer electronics, like smart phones, tablets, media players? The hardware is being commoditized, the interface is heavily touch/software oriented, fewer physical buttons, etc. I wonder if the Japanese aren't at some cultural/linguistic innovation disadvantage there, at least relative to the very software-oriented US.