The article attempts to investigate historical transformation in the Americans' evaluation of Japan and the Japanese over the past fifty years. As a result of the analysis of the empirical data derived from two opinion polls, the author has found that the level of evaluation has gradually risen over the past thirty years. Especially when one compares the ranking position of the Japanese in 1951 and 1984, the difference is striking. The US-Japan trade problem which has called public attention in the past two decades does not seem to bear significant negative influence upon the evaluation. Furthermore, it has been found that age, education, income, and occupation show significant correlation with the evaluation.