Why do consumers no longer want to buy Japanese electronic gadgets and cars?

The drop in industrial production of 10% in January was even worse than the decline in December, setting a new and grim record as Japan sinks into its worst economic crisis since the Second World War.
    The latest figures come just days after the government said exports had nearly halved. Consumers around the world afraid of losing their jobs in the downturn no longer want to buy Japanese electronic gadgets and cars.
    The Japanese themselves are also shopping less. Average household spending fell 5.9% in January compared to the same month a year earlier. Jobs are being slashed. The number of people unemployed rose by more than 200,000.
    Japan was once seen as relatively immune to the global crisis because its banks are not as exposed to bad loans as those in the United States or Europe. But its reliance on foreign markets to drive its economy out of a long slump in the 1990s has left it painfully exposed. In the last quarter of last year, Japan’s economy shrank by 3.3%, a far sharper decline than in the United States or Europe.