I've had the experience with pens. We see some of the innovations here -- gel, smaller ball points, etc., but we see them years later and in less variety.

And while I understand that it makes sense that rice is so much more important in Japan, I was blown away at the options on a rice cooker. In particular I like the feature where I tell it what time I want something to be done as opposed to when it should start. Waking up to warm oatmeal is incredible.

Lots of consumer stuff in Japan is way ahead of the US, and for good reason: American consumers simply won't buy it. They'd rather spend all their money on McMansions (with huge power bills) and giant SUVs.

I cannot recall a succinct term, but certainly people come to accept certain limits and price points.

It is possible to live in the United States and limit time spent in automobiles, size of houses, but sure can be difficult to get friends and family to understand such unorthodox priorities.

It is possible, sure, but most Americans don't do it willingly. Usually they do it because they're poor, in which case they don't have much money for Japanese consumer goods. The ones who do just aren't very numerous, so it doesn't make business sense to try to sell many things in the American market because too few people will buy them.