Manufacturing in Japan
Additional key industries in Japan's economy are petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, bioindustry, shipbuilding, aerospace, textiles, and processed foods.
[4] Well-known Japanese manufacturing and tech companies include Toyota, Hitachi, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electric, Nissan, Honda, Fujitsu, Yamaha, Epson, Toshiba, Sony, Panasonic, Nintendo, Sega, Nippon, Takeda Pharma, Mazda, Subaru, Isuzu, Komatsu, Sharp, Nikon, Canon and NEC.
[9] The Japanese shipbuilding industry was hit by a lengthy recession from the late 1970s through most of the 1980s, which resulted in a drastic cutback in the use of facilities and in the work force, but there was a sharp revival in 1989.
[9] Although facing competition from South Korea and China, Japan retains a successful, advanced shipbuilding manufacturing industry.
[11] Japan lost its leading position in the industry to South Korea in 2004, and its market share has since fallen sharply.
Pharmaceutical companies were establishing tripolar networks connecting Japan, the United States, and Western Europe to co-ordinate product development.
Biotechnology research covered a wide variety of fields: agriculture, animal husbandry, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, food processing, and fermentation.
Biotechnology also is used to enhance bacterial enzyme properties to further improve amino-acid fermentation technology, a field in which Japan is the world leader.
Also, researchers began to realize that such drug development continually showed new complexities, requiring more technical breakthroughs than first imagined.
By 1990, the construction of factory complexes to make ethylene-based products in the South Korea and Thailand was expected to increase supplies and reduce prices.
In the long term, the Japanese petrochemical industry is likely to face intensifying competition as a result of the integration of domestic and international markets and the efforts made by other Asian countries to catch up with Japan.
Japanese automakers Mitsubishi and Toyota have had their patents violated by a number of Myanmar car companies, such as UD Group (Mandalay) and Kyar Koe Kaung (Yangon).
When the price of oil rose in the 1979 energy crisis, demand for small automobiles increased, which worked to the advantage of Japan's exports to the United States market.
The Japanese Big Three (Toyota, Nissan, Honda) also sold luxury automobiles similar to its European counterparts (BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Jaguar) where it was possible to yield profits - since the parent companies had a connotation as an econobox manufacturer with their mass market automobiles, they established their stand-alone luxury marques (Lexus, Acura, Infiniti) where the parent company marketed the same product as a JDM (Japanese Domestic Model).
Foreign penetration of the automotive market in Japan has been less successful partly because of the population density and limited space of the country.
Imports of foreign automobiles were very low during the forty years prior to 1985, never exceeding 60,000 units annually, or 1 percent of the domestic market.
One concern was that the USA market automobiles sold in Japan were imposed a taxation bracket due to vehicle sizing and engine displacement - which affected sales.
Japan produces a great variety of products, ranging from traditional Japanese items, such as soybean paste (miso) and soy sauce, to beer and meat.
Leading personal computer manufacturers were NEC, Fujitsu, Seiko Epson, Toshiba and IBM Japan.
Japanese and U.S. influence in the computer market dwindled, with Taiwanese and mainland Chinese companies taking over component production and later research and development.
