Originally posted by interested_observer They are focused on Japan, and what we are seeing is the export of a Japanese product to the rest of the world.
I'm not sure this is a matter of cross-cultural conflict, so much as economic pragmatism and limited resources. If Pentax has seemed to focus on Japan too much in the last few years, it is probably a survival instinct, not lack of interest. Every dollar that Pentax earned in 2007 would be worth about 120 yen. Now it is only worth 80 yen and it's a similar story with other currencies. It must be so much more profitable to sell a camera in Japan at the moment. All Japanese exporters are struggling with this issue.
I don't think that catering to Japanese tastes and needs is necessarily a bad thing. They are not fundamentally different to photographers anywhere else. What product is it that you think was specifically aimed at Japan and has no relevance to the rest of the world?
Q - Probably designed for Asia first, but has its admirers in the rest of the world.
K-30 & K-5 II - They're just standard DSLRs. and quite good ones
K-01 - An odd product. Launch event was in the UK. Hasn't been particularly heavily promoted Japan. (I like mine though!)
In fact, this whole year, product launch press releases have come out in English first with the Japanese info following a day or two later.
What I think is wrong is that information doesn't flow very clearly from Japan to their representatives in other countries. They are dealing with the press rather poorly. You can blame this on the Japanese side not telling or the US side for not asking, but I noticed that an interview with the UK marketing guy was much more informative than the ones with the US guy.