My recollection is that the seismic shift in white American’s attitudes about Asians began in the 1960s, when G.I.s returning from our Southeast Asian adventures came home with Japanese cameras that were vastly better than American cameras, Japanese consumer electronics that were vastly better than American consumer electronics, and happy memories of Asian women who were, frankly, a hell of a lot lower maintenance than American women.
Then, when Americans began to see that Japanese cars were so much better than American cars, and — it pains me to say this, as I used to work for Harley-Davidson and still own stock in it — Japanese motorcycles followed suite, a lot of Americans began to think: “Hmm. Maybe they’re onto something over there.”
The first wave of the anime invasion clinched the deal.
The motorcycle I learned to ride back in the late 60’s, was a friend’s Yamaha 90. First bike I bought, was a 1980 Yamaha 750. The one after that is my current 2014 FJR1300?
Love my Yammies.