Made in the U.S.A, but avoided in Japan.
TOKYO THERE is little doubt, a Japanese pediatrician told two Americans last week, that Japan's techniques for vaccinating infants are superior to those used in the United States. At some length and unsolicited, he went on to assert that Japanese babies are inoculated at a more sensible age and that the serum used here produces one-fifth the incidence of fever associated with the American variety.
The episode, while perhaps minor, demonstrated a phenomenon any American in Tokyo encounters as a routine. There is an almost unassailable conviction among many Japanese that their products, methods and very outlook are better than almost anything the United States can offer. Not all foreign products are dismissed cavalierly. American companies dominate the razor-blade, floor-wax and soft-drink markets, to name a few.
Still, the notion that ''Made in U.S.A.'' is a label of inferiority has wormed its way into the collective Japanese psyche. Americans do not pay enough attention to detail, Japanese complain; their clothing falls apart, their cars sound tinny and their appliances waste energy. It is one reason American exporters have a hard time selling their wares. It also helps explain the skepticism that arose here last week after Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone went to the United States and assured President Reagan that Japan would mend its economic ways.