Indeed. Accountability works.
I busted too much knuckle once obliged to use “Jap tools” 40 years ago — either too soft or poor tensile strength. But a lot changed since then, and no doubt competition helped to improve Japan’s tooling and products, and also U.S. products. Remember the US rust buckets? Once the Japanese imports became a threat, US autos finally realized the potential they always had.
40 years ago the “Jap tools” that came in motorcycle tool kits were complete crap, though the motorcycles themselves were pretty darn good. What did a young kid working as a motorcycle mechanic in high school buy? Craftsman tools, of course, and the senior guys were buying Snap-On.
That was, as you note, about the time Japanese cars really started to come to the fore. The original Honda Accord was just a revelation when it was introduced in the late 70s, especially when compared to things like the Vega and Pinto. I had an ‘81 Accord sedan, bought new, which was the last model year for the 1st generation Accord. I owned American cars after that, and can honestly say I didn’t own a car with a better paint job until I bought a German car 20 years later.