Actually, Japanese scientists have won the Nobel prize for some pretty interesting stuff.
Hideki Yukawa, Physics, 1949: discovered the meson, which explains the interaction between protons and neutrons.
Kenichi Fukui, Chemistry, 1981: discovered the role of electron orbitals in chemical reactions, one of the few things I remember from studying Chemistry at college
Susumu Tonegawa, Medicine, 1987: discovered how antibodies achieve the diversity needed to combat such a variety of diseases.
Hideki Shirakawa, Chemistry, 2000: for his work on conductive polymers, which could have some pretty cool practical applications.
Koichi Tanaka, Chemistry, 2002: discovered a new method of spectrometric analysis, but the interesting bit is that he's the only scientist without a higher degree to win the Nobel prize.