There's always more than one reason for such a complex question. It would be just as fair to say the Japanese economy was more focused on manufacturing then se

There's always more than one reason for such a complex question. It would be just as fair to say the Japanese economy was more focused on manufacturing then services when the software industry really started to boom and by the time they transitioned to a service based economy their population was skewed too old to be a major player in the new industry.