When I was a child, toys from Japan were kept in the cheapest bins of Woolworth's and Newberry's. Sparkler-wheels made of tin and sandpaper, little cardboard cars, shells that opened up to display paper flowers. After World War II, there was a like migration of childish gadgets -- a jeep made out of SCAP ration tin stamped: "Made in Occupied Japan."
This was, it turned out, the first shin-deep ripple of the present tsunami as Japanese toys -- Walkmen, iPods, cell phones, as well as mighty cartoon figures -- engulf the international market.
One of the reasons for this success is that the aim is for the real customer. New Japanese products are nondidactic, non-"educational," and not aimed at parents but at the kid still alive in all of us. Particularly in Japan where adults read comic books in public places, where pin-ball pachinko is the national sport, and where colorful and popular manga figures adorn serious endeavor.