RS,
Since the summer of 1990, Panasonic has not imported Japanese-made vacs for the North American market. Panasonic vacuums are made in Mexico according to special North American design specifications. I think that very few parts of a North American Panasonic vac are from Asia.
The Sears retail giant has had a very long history of contracting the North American Panasonic division to provide all their high-end Kenmore vacuum cleaners. This began in the summer of 1990, when Japan's Panasonic bought the Whirlpool vacuum factory (I think in Danville, Kentucky or Tennessee - forget where) Whirlpool had been manufacturing vacs for Sears for many decades before that.
But Sears also bought vacuums from other manufacturers over the years, inncluding Korea's LG and Electrolux/Eureka. So it seems quite possible that these cheaper "Made in China" canisters are being made by TTI in China, not North American Panasonic.