Well it's worth noting that the reason why they seemed to learn so fast was because they did what just about any nation realizing it's behind the times and wanting to modernize will do; send people abroad to study the outlands and bring back information to adapt to. A lot of people tend to think Japan is far more tech-oriented than the US, but this is a grave misunderstanding. Robotics is something that Japan is known for but when compared with the robotics research and development in the US, and the lengths of what robotics can do, US engineering firms tend to have them beaten pretty squarely, largely because most of the time they have the eager backing of the extremely highly-funded US military behind them...and the US is the most robotic-equipped military in the world.
Case in point: After the Tsunami that laid waste to a huge portion of Japanese land and resulted in one of their nuclear reactor complexes being heavily damaged, they realized they needed robotic assistance; areas inside the reactor were too "hot" or inaccessible for humans to safely get into to begin repairs or activate safety protocols. So they brought in robots. Where? The US. Yes, the land of creepy human-looking robot things had to ask the US for its more practical designs to repair their reactors.
Still, for the last 20 years they've been whipping us on the car front. Because our car companies are run by morons and penny-pinching, greedy fucks who don't actually know shit about managing a car company, and theirs are run by people who have a need AND a drive to succeed. Which is why Flint and Detroit and Lansing and Pittsburgh are fucking ghetto wastelands, and Tokyo and Hamburg are car manufacturing metropolises.
Case in point: After the Tsunami that laid waste to a huge portion of Japanese land and resulted in one of their nuclear reactor complexes being heavily damaged, they realized they needed robotic assistance; areas inside the reactor were too "hot" or inaccessible for humans to safely get into to begin repairs or activate safety protocols. So they brought in robots. Where? The US. Yes, the land of creepy human-looking robot things had to ask the US for its more practical designs to repair their reactors.
Still, for the last 20 years they've been whipping us on the car front. Because our car companies are run by morons and penny-pinching, greedy fucks who don't actually know shit about managing a car company, and theirs are run by people who have a need AND a drive to succeed. Which is why Flint and Detroit and Lansing and Pittsburgh are fucking ghetto wastelands, and Tokyo and Hamburg are car manufacturing metropolises.
