In the 1980s Japanese companies, buoyed by huge piles of cash and the strongest domestic economy in the world, bought a host of assets in the US and Europe.
One of the most memorable acquisitions was the purchase of the Rockefeller Centre in New York City in 1989 by a Japanese real estate company. At the time, the purchase was seen at just how much the centre of economic power had shifted away from the US towards Japan and Asia.
