American Tourists Think Motorola is a Japanese Company

In addition, many famous brands don’t have a “nationality” anymore. If you look at the capital of many of these companies, it is owned by various entities in many countries (especially when investment funds own a significant part of the shares). In a globalized economy, global brands are multinational. This is even true to many Japanese companies (to a lesser extent). For example, Sony is owned 45% by non-Japanese entities or individuals. The main shareholders of Sony are:

Name / Number of Shares Held (in thousands) / Percentage of Shares Held
1 Moxley and Company (Note 1) 96,205 9.6
2 Japan Trustee Services Bank, Ltd. (Trust Account) (Note 2) 62,372 6.2
3 The Master Trust Bank of Japan, Ltd. (Trust Account) (Note 2) 49,809 5.0
4 State Street Bank and Trust Company (Note 3) 20,394 2.0
5 Japan Trustee Services Bank, Ltd. (Trust Account 9) (Note 2) 15,912 1.6
6 JPMorgan Chase Bank 380055 (Note 3) 13,565 1.4
7 SSBT OD05 Omnibus China Treaty 808150 (Note 3) 12,279 1.2
8 State Street Bank and Trust Company 505225 (Note 3) 11,863 1.2
9 Mellon Bank, N.A. as agent for its Client Mellon Omnibus US Pension (Note 3) 10,396 1.0
10 State Street Bank – West Pension FD Client – Exempt (Note 3) 8,936 0.9

(Note 1) Moxley and Company is the nominee of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. which is the Depositary for holders of the Corporation’s American Depositary Receipts (ADRs).
(Note 2) The shares held by each corporation are held on trust for investors, including shares in securities investment trusts.
(Note 3) Each shareholder provides depositary services for shares owned by institutional investors, mainly in Europe and North America. They are also the nominees for these investors.

Of course Motorola isn’t a japanese company. Otherwise it would be Motorora.

Rimshot, please.

Funny how a typical Dutch last name is now an ‘English sounding’ name. Their ancestors would have probably considered it to be Dutch or perhaps German sounding

For the Japanese brands the confusion is slightly more explainable, as I believe they have picked those names to appeal to a non-Japanese audience as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philips#History

I always thought Sharp were Dutch or German or something. Motorola I would have had down as something other than American too…maybe Japanese. And forgivable to not know Panasonic, they did afterall specifically chose a name to try and hide their Japaneseness.
But for some of the others- wow that was stupid of the people.

i thought samsung and LG were japanese. i vaguely remember seeing their ads associated with typical japanese images such as sumo wrestler, sushi, mt. fuji etc…