You have to hand it to Japs... they learn from others and then embark upon a process of continuous improvement leaving the former masters far behind.
They did the same thing with quality. They learnt quality control from Deming. They then proceeded to beat the shit out of the yanks when it came to making quality product.
While the Japs are constantly improving for the future, the Chinese, on the other hand, live in the past. They keep harping on their 5000 years of recorded civilisation but they haven't improved in the last 4000. In fact, they've probably gone backwards.
http://www.skymark.com/resources/leaders/deming.asp