These kinds of perspectives are often found and parroted in perceived 'elite' circles. It's no wonder the author works in Epic Games, a place in which one would need high technical chops to work there.

It's also no wonder why such people get disconnected from some realities on the ground. Sure on paper people do want higher quality things but they don't even know what those are. Most people have low-brow tastes; they'd take a cheaper and well-marketed thing over a 1% improvement.

Japan didn't need to compete on the same ladder for success, it needed to mix various elements of what they're good at to achieve it's own success.