The reference to Japan also brought up memories of Sony's brilliant play in the (admittedly declining) Camera market - starting off as a joke, then acquiring Minolta (not exactly a prestigious brand) and now being bigger than Canon and Nikon. In contrast, Pentax, which once ruled the Camera market (not to speak of Kodak..), is not even acknowledged by Ricoh today.

Tony Northrup's vlog on this is very interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVW18cGdfUU