I have a 1981 L-20A that has been a main guitar of mine sense I got it in a trade in 1983 for a Yari.
A friend of mine bought it new the same time that I bought my Martin D-35.
I ended up with both guitars.
My L-20A is stamped made in Taiwan but I have been told that it was indeed hand made in Japan.
It has a 3 three piece solid Rosewood back and sounds a lot like my Martin D-35 which is also a Rosewood 3 piece back guitar.
The L-20A has turned a lot of heads and made believers out of a lot of guitar players who never knew that Yamaha made such great guitars.
Here is a picture of my L-20A next to a Yamaha that was owned by John Denver.
I took the picture in Aspen Co. durring a John Denver gathering back in 2006.