I'll just add, because it wasn't in the article: Japanese higher education (and, increasingly, secondary education) is pretty bad. It's bad in completely different ways from US schools which is why it often gets a pass or is thought of as good in the West, but it doesn't produce good programmers.

Lots of focus on certificates and standards and consensus and other proof of 'merit', and not a lot of focus on getting shit done and programming, motherfucker.