A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats in Chinese / Japanese...

水漲船高 means “A rising tide lifts all boats/ships” in Chinese.

This idiom first appeared in the “Wudeng Huiyuan” (五燈會元) by the Song Dynasty monk Puji (普濟).

There is also a version that says “The longer the water flows, the higher the boat rises” or “水長船高”.

Acknowledgments: Thanks to Mac Lee for a factual correction to this entry.