The history of modern Japan's manufacturing is emblematic of the nation's industrial growth since 1868 when it opened its doors to the West. The long-term goal was to catch up with the world's industrialized powers. Achieving that aim required that resources-poor Japan earn precious foreign exchange through exports.
Initially, the mainstay of the export trade was raw silk. The hard currency earned through silk sales was used to import the materials and machinery needed to modernize infant domestic industries. The main line of export products changed with the times, from textile goods to home appliances, automobiles, semiconductors and so on. But the pattern of export-driven production remained basically unchanged.
The manufacture of these and other world-beating products -- all results of hands-on devotion to quality control -- made Japan a trading powerhouse, laying the groundwork for its ascent as the world's second-largest economy. Now, however, this traditional mode of industrial development is changing. Call it the "hollowing out" of domestic production: the erosion of the industrial base that has supported Japan's economic growth.