” Part of rebuilding was opening US markets to whatever products our new Cold War allies were producing.”
Ha! I was born in ‘46. I remember turning over my Japanese built toy car. Underneath, It was a Budwiser can!
Mine was a can of tuna!
I'm from the same era and remember many 'Made in Japan" products, all sorts of little knick knacks and toys and hand painted doo dads. "Made in Japan" was a joke and Japan was cheap labor in the '50s into the '60s.
And then all of a sudden, in the later '60s, just about every damned radio or TV or camera or anything electronic came from Japan, old American brands and Japanese brands.
Then the funny looking little Toyota cars started showing up and the rest is history.