In the midst of the perpetual pessimism in developed countries about their continued ability to manufacture goods, this little master from Japan has mastered the art of manufacture: Daiso. 

I had heard about this company through someone else but visited one of its stores for the first time, only today. 

I was amazed.

VERY high quality products – all priced (without fail) at $2.80, about half the price of a burger.

True, much of the material it sells is produced in China and South East Asia. But this is a purely JAPANESE company and the hallmark of Japanese quality is unmistakable in each of the products it sells. It is, therefore, best described as a Japanese manufacturing company – with its own retail system. 

This is the way of manufacturing for the future: with leadership and design from the most advanced countries, with high quality, cheap production from whoever can meet these standards, outsourced anywhere in the world.

Other companies have done such manufacturing in high cost cases (e.g. Sony), but I've not seen such high quality being produced at such a low price, before.

I would love to hear about the business model of Daiso from those who know about it.

How can anyone produce such high quality at such low price???