the japanese were not always well liked. about 100 years ago, as japanese immigrants flooded into the u.s., there was animosity, just as there is in india today. in south america, the japanese were forced to work as low-wage slaves. eighty years ago, as an enemy of the allies, the japanese became a common enemy of the world and were put in concentration camps. forty years ago, when they were restored to power as an economic superpower, they were not immediately accepted. when the bubble economy made japan so wealthy that land prices in tokyo alone could buy the entire united states, americans saw japan as an economic threat and were afraid of it, just as they are of china today. in detroit, vincent chin was beaten to death after being mistaken for a japanese, and japanese cars were vandalized. the reason japan has become so admired is because its economy is no longer a threat to america, but rather a stagnant developed nation trapped in its own cultural bubble. of course, it can also be said that it is one of the few countries outside the united states that produces valuable pop culture in the western world. when a country is no longer viewed as a threat historically, the hostility around it ceases and it becomes consumed as a cultural legacy. this was the case when france and the uk fell. china, too, has already reached the peak of its economic growth and is beginning to stagnate and its birthrate is declining
Japan