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That being said, Japanese tuners can only exist if the Japanese people can afford to buy the (admittedly) expensive products that the tuners produce. The 'quality' mentality of the Japanese people still applies here, as not only do they produce quality products, they also want to purchase quality products. Japan is filled with extremely high quality products whether it be from electronics to produce. A couple times a month I would buy myself a $5 apple as a treat for myself after a long day of work. Is a $5 apple worth it to most people? Probably not, but was it worth it for me? Definitely. Those apples were the epitome of quality and care. I just imagined the Japanese farmer tending to his apples everyday, making sure they were well cared for and growing nicely. Japanese people seek value in a lot of other ways, not just purely thinking about things in terms of monetary values. One way is that they enjoy blending form and function, which brings us back to JDM parts. Not only do the parts perform well, but they also look amazing. In the end, Japanese people like to be stylish and different and sometimes flamboyant, which is something definitely seen in the JDM tuning world.
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While I understand the analogies, and don't get me wrong I am NOT a nationalist, I look at this statement with a sour taste in my mouth.
Farmers here in the Northwest are hard working people who take pride in the quality of their work. In Washington and Oregon we grow delicious apples and it is hard to find better elsewhere.
I don't think it is necessarily the ethic of the farmer or blue collar worker, but the rampant disregard for small business in a corporately controlled country. The same thing happened to Japan in the 80s, and they still have not recovered. We are completing a similar cycle. This is why you pay $5.00 for an apple compared to $1.09 a pound.
I would like to hope that our product quality would increase with time to a point where the "American standard" would return. Unfortunately the US has 304,000,000 million people over 3,537441 square mile area, compared to Japan with its 127,288,416 over 145840 square miles. Less people with less land means that there is much more control, and people be come painstakingly careful with how that land is used.
It doesn't help that we import so much now either. We luckily still have active agriculture and a few other sectors that supply our own country, but more and more we become importers and turn towards a service based industry.
Just my
Edit: Also with that being said, these tuner parts are for the Japanese tuning scene (Nissan, Honda, Toyota, etc..). You are not as likely to see American manufacturers making parts for Japanese made cars. This is not to say that there are not amazing US manufactures that create parts and products for Japanese cars. I would argue that the parts manufacturing scene for USDM vehicles in Japan is much small than that of JDM vehicles, and that many of those comparable parts made by US companies are of great quality.