remember when you first bought a new car? the manual said an oil change was required after 400-500 miles? thats due to a japanese invention called the self clearancing piston. a certain amount of piston wall is designed to wear off to develop the final piston clearance in the engine block. this cut manufacuring times drastically for some of the most critical components in the engine.
Japanese metallurgy is also miles ahead of what US steel is in my opinion. They are more willing to put exotic metal blends in their cars than their american counterparts. For example, a regular sedan from the US might contain a hardened borg warner gearset for all models. The japanese will adjust the transmissions for nearly every model based on what the car or truck is. turbocharged all wheel drive vehicles get 15% more nickel in their gears than their front wheel drive counterparts. This leads to a car with unreal longevity and durability.
They do this with motor assemblies too. Its not uncommon to see working sets of motors in japanese cars that are 30 years old where window motors and such would easily have failed in american sedans. potted, brushed high quality motors were a fixture on practically every japanese sedan in the 90s for even boring stuff like mirror adjustment.