You're assuming long lasting soy sauce companies have anything to do with software development. Japan produces great video games despite how terrible otherwise the developer environment and culture is there and nearly all of the other software shows it.
> Software was not viewed so much as a product, but more like a service, similar to integration, training, and ongoing support and maintenance. It was usually sold on a time-and-materials basis, and sometimes it was just thrown in for free to sweeten the deal. The real money was in the hardware.
> Software development was considered rather low-skill work. It didn’t pay well and was viewed as a kind of clerical work. The job was simply to write software that was close enough to whatever sales had promised the client while they were out drinking last week.
Wouldn't wanna live there permanently. Wouldn't want to have been born Japanese. But my god the products and services are head and shoulders above my baseline expectations; it's simply nicer.
> Wouldn't wanna live there permanently. Wouldn't want to have been born Japanese.
So I take it you understand that there is no free lunch.
I also understand why it’s not something common outside of Japan. Selling your family name in exchange for (maybe) keeping your business alive is distasteful at best.
What? It can’t even maintain a stable 30fps on its own target hardware. That’s not an example is point to for something running “well.”
Software Japan
I think this boils down to profit not being the only driving force for these companies, but prestige and a sense of duty and responsibility towards something larger and less immediate.