"While Bianchi is best known as an Italian brand, they were having bicycles built in Japan to their specifications for several years in the late 1980s. These were particularly nice bikes, with better workmanship than the Italian models."
"From a rec.bicycles.tech posting by Andrew Muzi:
I am intimately familiar with Ishiwata and their products, having been in the factory a few times, spec'd many bikes with their steel and built with it. I still use Ishiwata tube for frame repair.
The material [022] is virtually identical to Columbus SP/SL/SLX. The top range of tubes were seamles double butted and the finish quality [as delivered to the builder] was much higher than Columbus. The tubing gauge of the 022 is 0.9/0.6mm, exatcly the same as Columbus SP. It's called "022" because the frame tube set weighs 2.2 kilos. The same material drawn thinner to 0.8/0.5mm is called "019" because it weighs 1.9 kilos, just like Columbus SL. Many builders, then and now, mix gauges so a small frame might be all 019 but a 56 would have 022 chainstays and downtube for example.