I'm not old enough to read mainstream news during the 80s, but learnt that there was a period of anti-Japanese fear mongering due to Japan's rising economy. It caused riots, burning of japanese products, and street violence to people who looked like Japanese.
I'm not too worried about war between nuclear powers, but I do fear for Chinese and Chinese-looking people living in the west.
We should all worry about the kind of people who would harass Chinese looking people in the west, but as someone in Australia, I’d like to assure you that while it is definitely very hard to move to a new country, a new language a new culture, and there are racists everywhere who tend to be loud and impulsive and hurtful, people here are deeply proud that this is a place where people from around the world have been able to come to make a life and contribute their culture. With each wave of immigration there has been initial wariness and eventual embrace. If you ever get the chance to come to Melbourne, ask people about the post war Vietnamese migration, if you read the media from the time you’d think there was hostility towards Vietnamese, what you’ll actually encounter is pride that Vietnamese are here and a real love for the Vietnamese people. Read about the visas given to Chinese students after Tiananmen, and the pride people have in the hybrid Indigenous/European/Asian culture of Broome which was exempt from the White Australia Policy, and you’ll see the world people want is a very different place to the fearful place our national leaders are dreaming for us
I'm not too worried about war between nuclear powers, but I do fear for Chinese and Chinese-looking people living in the west.