Boycott Japanese Toys

[Shinpachi]

Was Japan buying the western products by selling toys?
This is amazing fact for me.

Thanks National Archives of the Netherlands !
Home » Zoeken: Japan/1 | gahetNA

 

[Thorlifter]

Interesting pictures Shinpachi. Do you know the year(s) these were taken? I'm guessing somewhere between 1937 and 1939.

 

[michaelmaltby]

.... and all that achieved what?

My toys (that weren't UK-made Dinkys) were all stamped "made in US occupied Germany", or, "made in US-occupied Japan" and this was 15 years later.

 

[Thorlifter]

But that was post-war. I'm guessing the pictures above were pre-war and it was a protest to not support an aggressive country.

 

[michaelmaltby]

My point was simply how rapidly "realities" shifted .... by 1950 we wanted a recovering (to prosperity) Germany and Japan. The threat was Soviet Communism.

"The Peoples Can Stop the War. Save China. Save the Peace" ..... communists, IMO, .... the same folks who wouldn't criticize the Nazis after September, 1939 until Hitler broke the "bargain" and invaded Russia in June, 1942.
But hey, I mustn't go there ..... politics .

 

[Thorlifter]

LOL. I understand MM.

 

[Shinpachi]

Thanks for your kind posts, Thor and MM

The archives doesn't show exact years and locations but, yes, it would be around between 1937 and 1939.
I learned at school that Japan's main products for export at the time was silk.
Never heard of toys at all in my life.

I'm now reading a history book written on the period by a Japanese journalist in 1940, published in early 1941.
Japanese generally seemed not minding condemnation by the western peoples for 2nd Sino-Japanese War but regarding the insistent embargoes imposed by F D Roosevelt, a man of firm attitude against Japan, as unstable factor for the future war.

 

[michaelmaltby]

"... a man of firm attitude against Japan, as unstable factor for the future war."

Interesting observations on Japanese opinion of the period, Shin. But Japanese leadership misread America again and again, right up to December 7, 1941. FDR was merely reflecting America's sympathy and empathy for China and its people .... and this view the legacy of American Christian missionaries in China and the vision described by "Good Earth" author, Pearle Buck.

America's view of China was diametrically opposed to Japan's view of China .... its culture, values, etc. etc. And one must recognize that Japan-China had a long, complex, violent history with each other that was beyond anything that Christian America was prepared to understand.

Japan misread America and this resulted in strategic mistakes, IMO.

 

[Shinpachi]

Yes, the author evidently thought FDR was big obstacle for negotiation when there were many other pacifists in the U.S. Parliament. He wondered why FDR had been elected as President three times
I feel big fate in history as well.

 

[vikingBerserker]

That is very interesting, great thread Shinpachi.

 

[michaelmaltby]

"... I learned at school that Japan's main products for export at the time was silk."

Boycott silk doesn't have same zing for the protesters as boycott toys .... you know how the media works. Don't confuse the public with facts.

 

[Shinpachi]

Thanks David for your kind post too
I do appreciate it.

Boycott silk doesn't have same zing for the protesters as boycott toys .... you know how the media works. Don't confuse the public with facts.

I've got the point, MM.
Thanks !

 

[Shinpachi]

Statistics of Japanese exports supports your advice, MM.
Japan Toy Culture Foundation says Japan's toy exports indicated its peak in 1937 but sales amount occupied only a few percent of the total national exports.

 

[stona]

They all look to have been taken in Britain. I feel I should know who the vicar with the 'Chinese children dying....' sign is. His face looks familiar for some reason. There is another churchman in the same picture. They might be pacifists but I doubt they would have called themselves communists

Is that a Kuomintang flag (white sun/blue sky) in the background of the last photograph? There are certainly some people who might be Chinese present.

Cheers

Steve

 

[pbehn]

Shinpachi, some if not most of the pictures are from UK, I suspect UK toy makers whipped up public sentiment to protect their market, I don't think the UK ever had silk industry. The UK drives on the left same side as Japan and one banner mentions "Britain" and supporting the "dockers action" for many years the British dockers (also mentioned) would "take action" over anything and everything simply because they could never lose their jobs.

 

[michaelmaltby]

"... They might be pacifists but I doubt they would have called themselves communists "

You're right of course but they're what Lenin described as useful idiots.

Great market data, Shin.

 

[pbehn]

"... They might be pacifists but I doubt they would have called themselves communists "

.

At the time (1930s) they my well have described themselves as communists, Lenin and Trotski both had links to London and visited fairly often, one of the founders of communism Karl Marx is buried in London and his writings along with Engels are what communism is built on. The UK socialist party is and always has been the "Labour Party" and in UK the UK communist party never polled many votes although they have had an MP, the Soviet Union communist party was founded in 1912 from the Russian Social democratic Labour party. In UK there was no "stigma" to being a communist, the horrors of Stalins Russia were unknown and their "workers struggle" seen as noble. The present day UK Labour party shadow chancellor (finance minister in waiting) describes himself as a Marxist and there is no adverse public reaction, just as there is no adverse public reaction to people saying the world will end tomorrow.

 

[Capt. Vick]

Wasn't it Charlton Heston who said: "They can have my Hasegawa kits when they pry them from my cold dead hands"?

 

[stona]

The churchmen might have described themselves as socialists, but I doubt communists or Bolsheviks and even less likely Marxists.

 

[Gnomey]

Interesting stuff!