Japanese steel

Japanese Steel is obviously steel made in Japan. In the 50s, this steel was cheap because the Japanese government heavily subsidized the cost of manufacturing. The US government was still involved in the reconstruction of Japan after WWII, and strong armed many of the auto manufacturers into buying Japanese steel to help with the Japanese economy. However due to the high iron content of this steel -- it was inferior and had a tendency to rust easier. The quality of many cars made in the late 50s suffered because of their construction from this steel.

The combination of cheap steel from Japan and the high cost of labor extorted on the Steel Mills from the Steel Worker's Union -- had steel mills rapidly close in the United states until there was virtually little steel manufactured in the United States after the 1970s. The Japanese government also heavily subsidized their steel industry well into the 70's and the American government continued to allow them to flood the American markets causing nation wide lay offs. In 1971, ARMCO built a high tech computerized 24" wide flange mill and the Japanese came to look at it and within a short time, they built 48" mill. Everyone laughed but a few years later, they got several orders and were the only ones in the world that could fill the orders.