Japanese cars are not automatically better designed. I had my local shop change the leaky gasket around the oil pan of my Honda. For some reason, that required removing the box that holds transmission fluid. The mechanics said that an American car would not have somehting goofy like that.

About those buttons with tiny labels - I buy peel-off letters at the hardware store and place them above the buttons. For example, PH fits above the PHONO button quite well.