Tokyo corporations made large donations to establish chairs in Japanese studies at overseas universities, and the Japanese government increased funding for foreigners to study in Japan. Today many studies have shown that Japan's sad economic state over the past decade has brought a decline in Japanese confidence. But it is not just business and consumer confidence that has suffered. Japan remains the second-largest economy in the world, but Japanese language enrollments are down at US universities. There are fewer meetings and conferences about Japan, and much less coverage in the news media.
Japan seems far off everyone's radar screen.
So let's put this in historical perspective. Whether it is art or architecture, motion pictures or graphic design, management practices or business competition, automobiles or electronics, music or cuisine, Japan is in a class by itself. Despite its anemic growth rates, Japan continues to innovate today. The problem is, the world is not paying attention. But in the 1980s, the world realized it had much to learn from Japan.