I'm from Michigan, where in the '80s Japan was a dirty word due to their unfair trade practices.
When the bubble burst in Japan, everyone seemed to forget about the trade imbalance.
I've been in Japan for awhile, and if they were having rough times economically, then ';rough'; is a term that would mean ';doing fairly well'; for most Americans. Nobody here seemed to suffer much or stop shopping. If anything, Japanese high school girls have become more obsessed with spending daddy's money, and everybody's daddy seems to have a lot more money than me.
Meanwhile, I see on the net that the Japanese are selling cars, etc in the states that I never would have imagined would have made it to the US market. American cars sold here are pretty limited, and once upon a time we supposedly tried to mimic the limits the Japanese put on us.
In the end, it kind of seems like the slumping Japanese economy was somewhat a ruse to distract Americans. It seems to have worked. Does anyone think it matters?