The egalitarianism embedded in Japanese society deprives researchers and scholars of the economic incentives to pursue creative and innovative studies, according to 46-year-old Shuji Nakamura.
And that's why the former corporate researcher opted out of Japanese research and accepted a teaching position in the United States.
Nakamura gained fame in 1993, when he invented the world's first blue light-emitting diode while working for Nichia Corp., a small chemical company based in Tokushima Prefecture.