Back in the 1980s, Japanese car manufacturers cultivated a reputation for building bulletproof cars that exceeded the reliability expectations of virtually all of their competition at the time.The American and European markets were still skeptical of Japanese-built cars, but gradually manufacturers like Toyota, Honda, and Nissan gained a foothold outside of their domestic markets, largely thanks to the positive association with building long-lasting vehicles.Although the gap in quality has narrowed in recent years, data shows that Japanese brands still lead the field when it comes to reliability. Seven out of the top 10 reliable carmakers in the 2015 Auto Express Driver Power survey were from Japan, and around a third of the Reliability Index’s top 100 cars are Japanese.But why is it that Japanese brands rank so highly in terms of reliability? Japanese cars are some of the most reliable on the market: vehicles from manufacturers like Toyota, Honda, and Nissan remain popular for...