Japan followed the same story line initially.

Camera manufacture started as either junk, or as cheaper copies of German (Leica) bodies and lenses.

Car manufacture was in one case initially intertwined with licensed designs from the UK.

In both these cases, Japan grew to become the leader in cameras and amongst the leaders in automobiles.

The interesting thing is whether China can do the same thing with computers, but as software has such a cultural dependence, I highly doubt it. Aside from Matz, has Japan even produced any really notable software or operating systems?