I’m glad someone else remembers these things you’ve listed. I’m no economist, but I remember the fears people had of the Japanese in the 80s. A horrible movie, Gung-ho, was made about it (I believe that’s the name— Michael Keaton??).
Yes. I even remember seeing clips of rather portly folks smashing a Toyota to bits on the nightly news, and how the Japanese would “own” America by 1990. Didn’t quite happen that way.