Japanese Products

Why can’t America catch up (Part A, Jan. 14)? We could if we were given the same business opportunities in Japan as we give the Japanese here in the United States.

We could if Japan would let American businessmen have Japanese lobbyists pounding on the doors of their politicians in Tokyo.

We could if American patents would protect the American manufacturer in Japan.

We could if American businesses would get full government support for plant improvements to beat the foreign competition.

I am tired of our media putting Japanese products on a pedestal and constantly knocking not only American products and businessmen, but the worker as well. We, too, could be producing better products if we did not spend millions on research and development on a product to have it stolen from us as soon as we are in production.

The Japanese used to walk through our plants with their cameras clicking, and we let them. But when I, as an American businessman, visited their plants, I was prohibited from even taking a camera on the premises.

And with the profits made from all these years of copying, the Japanese are now buying this country’s best businesses and brains to teach their American creativity to their young. Worse, they are buying the best lobbyists in Washington to be sure they can continue to rape America.

HENDRIK C. GILLEBAARD

Laguna Beach