The ones made in Japan are the Lexus specific fitment I think. My fronts are made in France, but the new rears I put on a couple of weeks ago are made in Japan - and I ordered the Lexus specific ones.
So maybe that's why they last quite well - they really are specfic to the car?
Mike
got bridgestone reo4o on mine, mate works in tyre trade and says standard spec is either the dunlops or bridgestones- the bridgestones are car type specific- the code is cz if i remember rightly- thats for the reo4o. dont kno what the code is for the dunlops