For the sake of a fair comparison, here is a New York Times article from June 1993: http://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/02/business/headache-for-japanese-investors.h

For the sake of a fair comparison, here is a New York Times article from June 1993: http://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/02/business/headache-for-japanese-investors.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/02/business/headache-for-japa... > During the real estate boom of the 1980's, Japanese investors purchased or financed tens of billions of dollars of American property > the Japanese are now forced to consider the same unpleasant choices that their American counterparts have already been confronting: foreclosing on mortgages, writing down loans and thus acknowledging grave losses, or selling the whole mess to someone else, almost certainly at a loss. > The Mitsubishi Estate Company ... Rockefeller Center ... mortgage for $1.3 billion > The Shuwa Corporation of Tokyo ... ARCO Plaza complex in Los Angeles, the U.S. News & World Report Building in Washington ... 18-story office building at 551 Madison Avenue ... $10 billion in debt > Mitsubishi Trading Company ... 1,400-room Westin Bonaventure hotel ... $75 million mortgage. In summary, Japanese companies bought commercial property via loans. Today, Chinese individuals are buying residential property, paying full price in cash up front with the aim of settling down in America and sending their children to the local schools. Doesn't appear to be the same situation at all.