Well, as far as QC in manufacturing goes, it is undeniable that
Japan went to the extreme . Exported products (electric and electronic)
manufactured and shipped to the USA were tested so thoroughly I never
saw a defective one (other than dropped or crushed ) while doing QC in a
distribution and repair facility here. Warranty repair is another story-
practicaly ALL (!) Japanese- consumer products went bad after 2-3 years
of normal use (we are talkng about 25 years ago). Reasons are many,
but usually because the components were underrated and eventually their
products failed ,sometimes catastrophically...
As far as JRC goes, it is a maritime radio manufacturer, and as such it
designs its products to work very reliably and to last a long time. My
NRD 505 (amateur grade) is some radio , though it sounds muffled when
compared to Drake R 7 ( audio is supreme on a wide bandwith, especially
8KHz). R 8 is no match to either one ,though. NRD 515--------545 are
good ,but audio is only telephone grade. Their last 3 models have
plastic front panels- get scratched easy and lettering disappears
rather quickly. Excellent RF circuitry ,tough designs.