Japan isn't that weak in embedded (Tron, game consoles, all in-house firmware for cameras using VLIW CPUs) and research-adjacent fields like HPC and surprisingly, Lisp:

https://github.com/fukamachi

https://github.com/guicho271828

https://github.com/cxxxr

https://github.com/sasagawa888

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Common_Lisp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Generation_Computer_Syst... (Prolog, but similar)

This is a strange comment. Majority of SWEs in FAANGs are Asian: https://www.statista.com/statistics/311815/google-employee-e... most of the software you like was probably written by Asians.