Why Japan didn’t create the iPod

I think maybe it's along lines of the fact that Apple is the type of company to create an object that you kind of revere for how it makes you feel to own it rather than for what it does for you. For example, the N64 controller is the definition of ugly, but it was a great step forward in controller design. I can't see Apple releasing anything ugly or uncool looking, no matter how advanced the technology or the ideas behind it.