This may tend toward the political, but it is the only way I can express my opinion on the "anti-rice" sentiment...
My father, and all the other fathers at the time were the ones who fought in WWII. They were conditioned to hate the Germans and the Japanese - it was a war after all. When the war was over, our government spent lots of American money helping to rebuild Japan, and gave them a lot of manufacturing know-how and equipment to help them as well.
Believe it or not, that didn't sit too well with the every day Joe Taxpayer/Veteran.
When the flood of Japanese products began arriving in the U.S., most of it was junk. Cheap flimsy garbage.
"Made In Japan" was a derisive term. But the stuff kept coming, and people kept buying it...
It wasn't too long before they progressed beyond transistor radios and plastic items to more big ticket items - televisions, motorcycles, cars, etc. And the first offerings were junk. When it breaks throw it away.
American and British products at the time were heavier, stronger, and built to be rebuilt. But the Jap stuff was cheaper, so eventually, it won out. Generations change, and the memories are someone else's.
Now put yourself in this scenario. I risked my very life to defend my country, me and my brothers in arms. We left dead friends and pieces of friends all over the world fighting these people and today they are closing down our factories and we are losing our jobs because our government and big business wants more profit. How would you, Joe Taxpayer/Veteran feel about foreign products? What would you teach your children?
Most guys who consider themselves "bikers" are not 6 figure earners, they are the common Joe Taxpayer/son of Veteran or a veteran of a later war - be it Viet Nam or Desert Storm or whatever.
They are the common man - the cannon fodder for the latest war. Riding is an escape for them. Joining a group of their peers is an insulating shelter from the hypocrisy of government and business. "Made in Japan" or "Made in China" is salt in the wounds.
Yes, it's jingoistic, but that's what they were taught in the military. It's hard to turn it off and say everything's wonderful, while you're forced to shop at Walmart because your job just went to Pakistan...
