I've got a 1987 Japanese Fender Performer.
The Performer is absolutely without fault and IMOH has the edge on tonal flexibility and attention to detail (which is at the sort of level associated with custom-shop Fenders - full shielding, quality jack socket, rubber insets on controls, micro-tilt neck, lovely tuners, neck profile that makes most jazz basses seem chunky, TBX tone control). Playability is better than any American Fenders I've played (OK, any bass I've ever played). Its only fault is that it is fairly low output (it won't do a Precision growl) and back in the day sound engineers preferred the earth-shaking output from my Hohner B2.
Presumably it came out of the same factory as the 80s MIJ Squiers and while they don't share the same level of attention to detail it certainly demonstrates that they would work to the highest standards.