Wasn't Honda sponsoring a number of Japanese DH riders when they were running their bike program?Japan and Cuba don't really fall into the DH limelight much either huh?
Wait... You don't think that could be the reason do you?
Also, my comment was in regards to sports that US dominates that others dont, citing examples you mentioned. Baseball in this case.
Baseball is HUGE in Japan and SE Asia as a whole. Not just at the pro level. Current little league world champions are from Japan. In the 60 some years its been held, China has won 17 times, and Japan 7 times. Then again, US has won 32 times...