That's a survivorship bias. You're counting the few things that survived, and discounting the majority that didn't. Of course there is nothing inherently less

That's a survivorship bias. You're counting the few things that survived, and discounting the majority that didn't. Of course there is nothing inherently less dependable about something made in Japan compared to the United States. But things made cheaply are generally less dependable, and a lot of that stuff was made on the cheap for a reason: to break into the U.S. market.