Trivia fact:

Nichia is not only a Japanese company, but they are the inventors of the now ubiquitous GaN blue-LEDs; or at least Shuji Nakamura was working there when he invented them.

Quality vs Throughput right here.

I had the experience dealing with some Japaneses companies when they tested the chips we developed. Their level of testing surpassed what most of the companies in the US here do when they qualify a part. They don't take your word on the specs and do their own testing when possible.

Watch Gung Ho for a mostly-accurate comedy relating to this.