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https://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/06/us/resentment-of-japanese-is-growing-poll-shows.html

I went digging for some contemporary sources and I thought that was a good one that shows the start of a trend that culminated in full-bore cultural panic that lasted a decade.

Since you remember the NES, you may remember Marty McFly getting fired over fax by his Japanese boss in Back to the Future 2 (1989). You may remember Rockefeller Center getting sold in 1989. I firmly believe it was this environment that shaped Trump's views on international relationships. The conversation was about the Japanese buying the symbols of America. That we would lose our identity to foreigners.

By the time the movie Rising Sun (1993) was released, the wave had passed. The movie was heavily criticized for anti-Japanese stereotyping and the plot involving Japanese takeover was seen as passe. The cultural image persisted. You may remember when The Phantom Menace (1999) was released the "Trade Federation" strong arming Naboo were alien monsters given Japanese-accented English voices. They were called out for this and the cultural trope mostly receded.

There were indeed a lot of successful Japanese products. The Japan-bashing was the backlash. During this time, the UK had higher foreign ownership of US assets than Japan. "For some reason" there was no anti-British backlash.