I was standing on the corner by the Hachiko exit of Shibuya Station, looking at two giant television screens hawking the latest gadgets, trends and fashions, while thousands of light bulbs seared into my retinas the benefits of zillions of products. But having read this book, I felt I finally understood, even as the cell-phone toting masses stormed numbingly by, the technological revolution Japan has unleashed on itself.
"Assembled in Japan" explains not only how technicians and entrepreneurs went to great lengths to import high-technology, but how they adopted the revolutionary techniques needed to market those products to people who could barely afford them.
How had I been persuaded of the overarching utility of my cellular phone despite its extravagant cost? A half-century ago, the same question arose over things taken for granted today: washing machines, radios and TVs.
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