I was wondering, do you guys think maybe some of the Japanese dominance was thanks to Araya, and Ukai wheels?

As a novice cyclist, I couldn't tell one group-set apart from another, but do I remember why I thought my Nishiki was 100x better. It was because it had alloy Araya wheels, where as Schwinns, Norco's, and Raleigh's still had large steel no name wheels.

I'm sure the better models had alloy wheels to, it's just that no one seemed to sell the higher end bikes where I lived.