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You know what, today I feel like going on a rant about the mediocre-ness of American household electronic appliances compared to their far FAR superior Japanese counterparts.
Now, just a disclaimer, I have not done any research whatsoever, and all of this is based purely on my experiences.

Let's start with, hmmm..... How about washing machines?
You know, in North America, there are front-loading washing machines, front-loading dryers, top-loading washing machines, and top-loading dryers. Well, in Japan, there is the not-exactly-front-loading-but-not-top-loading washer/dryer. This design places the chamber thing at 20-40 degree angle, which makes reaching in and out WAY easier. Plus, there aren't any dials, everything is done from the control panel which consists of buttons and displays. There are also many functions, but which I've forgotten. However, Hitachi's flagship model, the BeatWash(or whatever its called) is top-loading but still a two-in-one. I remember it was either Toshiba or Sanyo (probably the former) who first introduced this appliance way back in 2002, and now, almost every major company has introduced a second generation.

It really honestly is wonderful, if I knew Japanese, I would be able to tell you much more about it.

Okay, now lets move on to refrigerators.
I remember in Japan, when I was walking around Akihabara, the world famous electric street (or so I've been told, I've never heard of it before I went there 5 years ago), I walked into one of those electronics stores geared for foreign visitors. In there was a section of fancy new refrigerators. At the very very far end, tucked away in the corner, under the sign "Overseas Models", was a GE refrigerator. Nobody ever ventured there, and when you could just compare the GE model and the Japanese models, it was clear who was the winner.
Japanese houses are significantly smaller than ours, so they had to make much use of their space. Their refrigerators reflect that. They have so many innovative compartments in which you could put probably 2x the stuff inside the same amount of space. Certain models have these ionizers, or plasma ion, and other stuff which is supposed to be good for your food, keeping them fresh, but I never understood them because I don't know Japanese. Usually, the freezer is at the bottom, with 1-3 drawers above it for fruits, vegetables, meat, etc., then on the top is a general compartment with one-touch open doors (yes, you don't have to pull the handles) and ample space. Look, even opening the doors uses significantly less space than our American ones. By the way, all the higher end ones have electronic displays, automatic ice dmaker, stuff like that. However, I have yet to see a single refrigerator with an external ice/cold water dispenser.
Oh, and they're for sure much more energy efficient than American ones, that's a given.

I think I should go now, so I'll just leave it at that.