I believe that there two factors that people don't talk about much:
- Software engineering wasn't much of a prestige profession (I suspect still isn't), and most bright STEM students ended up studying other forms of engineering
- A general lack of interest in hacking and tinkering
People make some wild claims, such as kanji or East Asian culture, but there is plenty of quality Chinese and Korean software.
- Software engineering wasn't much of a prestige profession (I suspect still isn't), and most bright STEM students ended up studying other forms of engineering
- A general lack of interest in hacking and tinkering
People make some wild claims, such as kanji or East Asian culture, but there is plenty of quality Chinese and Korean software.