Yeah, most of the debate's about the frame. Even though Shimano is nominally Japanese and of course has plants all over the Pacific Rim (and here too), I can't think of any Japanese bike brands....hmm?

I too would personally feel more comfortable with Taiwanese made frames than Chinese.

Even though I'm pretty much a bike newbie, I don't think building a frame is exactly rocket science (well maybe CF is). It's a fairly mature technology in many ways. What does make a big difference is things like metallurgy, quality control and assembly (espescially lugging and welding), all that kind of stuff. And it's sometimes hard to know just how skilled a welder in some noisy shop in China might compare to one in Taiwan, or anywhere else for that matter.

As noted, many Japanese brands are actually made here and many domestic brands are made elsewhere. I don't think that any one country has a clear-cut technical advantage over the other from a so-called 'cultural' standpoint. It's all about training the person doing the work....train them well, and you get a good bike; not so well and you might or might not get a good bike, but the better the training program the better your odds.

For sure a very highly subjective debate!

Tom