Jiro Kasuga in his home taken in the 1980s found on the internet. He was an engineer and the founder of Trio-Kenwood, and with his brother Nakaichi Kasuga, Kensonic Laboratories, later Accuphase.
Trio/Kenwood was fairly established in the mainstream hierarchy of Japanese two-channel audio, now gone. What's left of their consumer line? Aftermarket car audio. Pioneer, Sansui, Akai, and even Sony... nothing much left, either. Yamaha remains the only serious, wide-range offering player in Japanese sourced two channel hi-fi. Why is that? Answers are not difficult to come up with.
In the heyday of Japanese consumer audio, Accuphase carved out a different niche. The gear looked not unlike Kenwood, but you could visually see (and feel) the difference. The only other Japanese company selling in that higher market (that I remember) was Stax, and they were very limited in distribution--most of their customers interested in headphones, and not their electronics, or electrostatic loudspeakers. Then, Accuphase was distributed by Teac, which had an established dealer network, along with a level of goodwill in the marketplace... I could be mistaken, but I believe Teac also imported Micro Seiki, for a while.
In gear hierarchy, Yamaha was mostly considered a 'step up' from the middle brow pack. I think that was mostly because they stayed with an established dealer franchise, which imparted a sort of 'exclusivity' to the brand, while at the same time allowing the average Joe to buy 'entry level', without breaking the bank. You could always source a Pioneer, Sansui, Kenwood, Marantz etc., for twenty to thirty percent off list at Sound Warehouse. Shipped right to your door--don't ask us about warranty information or after the sale support! Yamaha didn't allow that kind of mail-order discounting, so you always paid a few dollars more. But not 'a lot' more--, and no Yamaha product was really through the roof expensive (with a few outlier exceptions).
Cosmetically, if you liked the trad look, Yamaha had that nailed. Wood sleeves, meters, plenty of knobs, and so forth. At one time Yamaha hired noted designer--Mario Bellini, to give the goods that Ferrari visual appeal. Plus, they were backed by a parent conglomerate, which might have helped in the cash-flow department, I don't know.
Who is left? Teac is still around, selling their mini-components, but they don't appear to have much of a market presence in the US. I checked Music Direct which sells the brand-- half of the product line is 'out of stock, will ship when available'. That inspires long-term consumer confidence, for sure. For their part, Pioneer developed TAD/Exclusive in Japan-- TAD is still around but I don't know their relationship, if any, to what is now left of Pioneer, a shell of its former self in the two-channel marketplace.
Marantz and Rotel are available, and exude an exciting visual feng shui, if your taste runs to generic 'name on request' black (or sometimes silver) boxes. Denon? The same mold. Nothing against those products, but they look like they were all stamped out in the same Malaysian factory, deck chairs having been minimally rearranged. Leaving Accuphase and Lux as what's left of traditional luxury Japanese high-end. Both companies have pretty much stayed with an in-house design language for decades.
I think most folks who buy Yamaha (which also more or less maintains a 'trad' aesthetic) would prefer Accuphase or Luxman, but they can't (or won't) spend the required dollars. In context, the highest of the high-end Yamaha integrated amps begins at about entry level Accuphase. From there on it's goodbye Charlie.
Of course we can convince ourselves of anything, if we try hard enough. Like people who drive a VW, and rationalize that it's really not that far away from a Porsche, if they climb high enough up the corporate ladder-- then are happy contemplating all the money they saved. And lets face it, most women aren't going to know the difference between a Zales diamond and whatever comes wrapped inside the 'blue box' (it was always more greenish, to me), although I suspect that most women desire the blue box, if given the choice.
Then there are those who don't care at all about looks, --probably the majority of the ASR crowd (hell, I read somewhere that Ferdinand Piëch often drove a VW to work!). These folks know they can buy 'better numbers' cheaper from Topping, or if they want exceptional build quality and local support, there's Benchmark, for only a few dollars more. Yet, my guess is that Accuphase customers are more into rosewood veneer and gold tone panels, lovely switches and back-lit meters, instead of numbers. Unless it is numbers of dollars spent to maintain exclusivity. However each sees it, I understand both sides of the aisle, completely.