Allow me to chime in. Those who are older can remember the products that were imported from Japan 1950s-1960s. They have the image of being of being of low quality and inexpensive, which they were. But for those who only know Japan from the 1980s onwards it's another ball game. I personally use 1968/69 as a marker for the change in US public opinion.
1968-69 - Sony TV monitors are used by NASA. Sony also introduces the Trinitron TV. Honda introduces the CB-750 Four cylinder road bike. Nikon had become recognized as the finest camera. Nissan (then Datsun) cars did not take off until the 1973 Opec "Oil Shock" when the American public first faced high gasoline prices and discovered "good mileage". Japanese cars started to be designed for the US market and their sales took off.
Going to the knife world. Pete Kershaw turned to Kai Corp, the largest knife maker in Seki Japan to start his company. Kai turned to Hattori to make the first Kershaw knives in 1974. In 1986 Spencer Fraser turned to Hattori to make the first SOG S1. Al Mar had already established a close relationship with G.Sakai from 1977 when he was still head designer for Gerber. Cold Steel turned to Seki makers for their Master Tanto, and had Japan production run concurrently with Camillus production.
"Made in Japan" meant cheap crap (bearing in mind that much of that was backed by prejudice carried over from WWII), and to far lesser extent, still is) from 1950-late 1960s. But from 1970s onwards Made in Japan has meant high quality. And by the mid 2000s, both high quality and too costly to be competitive. Just look at Fallkniven's prices. So how old a person is clearly defines the image they have of Made in Japan.
C campandtravel raises a very interesting perspective. During the early post-WWII period when Japan exported cheap tinny toys, they weren't really exporting the kind of products that might "break" during use. A 1970 Datsun was cheap (low priced), had a thin steel body (cheap compared to US made cars), relatively tiny engine with unheard of gas mileage, but did they develop a reputation for breaking down? No, not at all. In fact, reliability has been a main stereotype/feature of Japanese cars for as long as they have been exported.
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