Japan Cup in a nutshell
>1981 to 1991 a period of overseas dominatio, mainly from USA and Oceania (except Katsuragi Ace and Symboli Rudolf wins)
>1992 to 1994 had a little winning streak for japanese horses (Tokai Teio was the one who brought back the Japan Cup to Japan in 1992, I am mad about season 2 of anime having skipped that feat)
>1995 to 1997 is a small period of european domination
>Starting 1998, it's the total Japan domination (except an italian horse winning in 2002 and a british horse winning in 2005, which by the way it broke Horlincks and Oguri's record)
>Interest fades away in 2006, with the exception of 2010 (which was a controversial race because Buena Vista won but they gave the win to Rose Kingdom).

Kudos to the 2005 british horse for being the only one managing to do something (with record breaking included) after regulations changed in 2003