How was Japan viewed in the 1980s?

[Cassius]

Debt of Honor is a vintage example of 80’s/90’s Japanophobia in literature, although it was only published in ‘94 so it actually missed the boat to some extent given that Japan’s economic boom had turned to bust at that point (to be fair a Japanese economic crisis was a key plot point in the novel, albeit one caused by American trade restrictions as opposed to an economic bubble).

Michael Crichton’s Rising Sun touches on a lot of similar themes to Debt of Honor, although in a more sophisticated fashion, and both it and Jurassic Park make a lot of hay out of the stereotype of the Japanese as having oceans of money to throw at dubious projects. Of course that wasn’t actually too far off the mark given what Japanese banks and investors were doing in the late 80s.

I do sometimes wonder whether we’ll one day look back on the current hysteria over China in much the same way as we look back on 80s Japanophobia (which isn’t to say there aren’t differences).