by Akim Reinhardt

I remember a strain of paranoia that ran through American popular culture during the 1980s: The Japanese are going to overtake us. Many feared that the same nation that we’d bombed into oblivion during World War II, and then helped to rebuild, was about to steam right by us.

First came their better, cheaper cars. Initially dismissed as “rice rockets,” their superiority to American-made cars eventually could not be denied; they were cheaper, more durable, and got better mileage. That proved a real blow to an American psyche that had been trained to see Detroit’s Big Three automakers as the bedrock of U.S. industrial might, and the cars they produced as the sexy, muscular symbols of Americans’ independence and dreams of the open road.

Then came all the cool, futuristic Japanese gadgets that everyone wanted: the walkman, compact discs, the VHS, home video game consoles, and even the first laptop computer. Americans began to worry that the Japanese were more disciplined and dedicated to world economic and technological domination, and that Americans themselves had become layabout fat cats who could no longer compete with zaibatsu corporate ninjas. American cultural expressions of these fears were plentiful. One of the most forthright was the 1989 Michael Douglas film Black Rain.

It’s all rather laughable now. Most older Americans have to jog their memories to recall this panic about Japanese dominance. Most of the under-40 crowd don’t even know it was a thing. The year after Black Rain played in American theaters, the Japanese economy began deflating and still hasn’t rebounded. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. economy was remade by its own tech revolution, increased energy production, and various free trade agreements.

Now they say China is going to overtake the United States. Only this time they might be right. Read more »