Japan's interest in Australia

Some people may not realize why koalas, Mad Max references, kiwi birds, and even landmarks appear in Japanese media. Am I the only one? Two animes that were a couple of the earliest ones I viewed had main koala characters: "The Wondrous Koala Blinky" and "Koara Bōi Kokki". Mad Max was influential enough to inspire Hokuto no Ken, which is about a Bruce Lee/Max Rockatansky character name Kenshiro. This was even influential in causing some Data East employees to create Road Blaster laserdisc arcade, which those designers founded Technos Japan and created the Double Dragon series. Even Captain Falcon himself is a Kenshiro/Kamen Rider 1st hybrid who both his name and Blue Falcon were possibly named after the Ford Falcon driven by Max Rockatansky. There are two kiwi bird protagonists of two video games: Tiki from The New Zealand Story arcade, and Ivy from Ivy the Kiwi? And Wolf Fang/Rohga arcade by Data East takes place in Australia. Anyone else know other signs of Japan's interest in Australia?

It seems to be a popular travel destination for some of my Japanese friends. And I've known a couple people who lived there for a year or longer (either due to work, studying abroad, or working visa).

When Mad Max and Road Blaster meet Hokuto no Ken: http://youtu.be/gwpOy7rVavg http://youtu.be/9Ea3WE6FEE8 http://youtu.be/0cJkhDt-R7U http://youtu.be/37unM9Fj7m0 http://youtu.be/6cgdr0EJh8o