That almost automatic reaction was reminiscent of the 1980’s, when America woke up to find Japanese companies like Sony buying Columbia Pictures, Mitsubishi Estates buying Rockefeller Center, and even the famous Pebble Beach golf course on the California coast being snapped up by Japanese investors. “People were afraid the Rockettes would have to wear Kimonos,” wrote Susan Tolchin, of George Mason University, the author of “Buying Into America.”