"Made in Japan"-- what's the story?

[peter_evans4]

<p><em>the cameras you mentioned - to be honest, never heard of them :-) Like most camera enthusiasts, probably...</em></p><p>I don't think that any Japanese camera was exported till 1947 or thereabouts; if this is so, then knowledge in the west of older Japanese cameras would have started as historical knowledge.</p><p><em>So is "early history of Japanese camera industry" always written somewhere?</em></p><p>There's a lot in Japanese; even if you can read Japanese, it's rather confusing, as most of it has come out in magazines rather than books. There are also some books in English that are said to be good. Three are mentioned in <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00FcTX">this thread</a> (I already have two of these on order from <a href="http://www.abebooks.com/">ABE</a>).</p>

[John Smullen]

"We may be talking a little at cross purposes here. I have the impression that you mean "number of lenses sold." I meant "number of focal length/maximum apertures offered."

 

I agree. And I got carried away and would like to offer an apology to one and all.

 

Mt point in getting wrapped in this thread was to try and dispel some of the xenophobic nonsense about the quality of products from Japanese companies including camera makers. I grew up hearing stuff like "Japanese products are made from beer cans", etc. Stories like that are perpetuated by people who were blindsided by nimble competition or feel threatened by rapid change. It took me a few years to sort out fact from fiction and I get riled when I see that stuff from 50 years ago surfacing again.

[charles_miller5]

<i>Gosh, sorry, I must have made a mistake then. The cameras I have that were made in

Japan during the decades following WWII were junk. I mean, we're told this in CAPITALS, so

it must be true.</i>

<p>

Stop apologizing for everything, Peter. Seems like your every sarcastic utterance is

prefaced with <i>sorry</i> this and <i>sorry</i> that. It's not your fault that your

information is as defective as your attitude, so there's no need to constantly apologize.

Nobody likes that. Now, be a good lad and go play in the garden.

[charles_miller5]

<i>I grew up hearing stuff like "Japanese products are made from beer cans", etc. Stories

like that are perpetuated by people who were blindsided by nimble competition or feel

threatened by rapid change.</i>

<p>

Point of fact, a great number of Japanese tin toys from the 50s and 60s <i>were</i>

made from tin cans and other recycled bits. And not in the modern sense of recycling, but

in the sense that old cans were simply squashed flat and die-stamped into new shapes.

<p>

In another and more lucrative area of collecting---that of tin litho toys and robots from

the 50s and 60s, the great majority of which were manufactured in Japan---it's generally

accepted that any given specimen of wind-up toy may very well bear a lithographed coffee

or tea or tobacco tin label on the inside.

<p>

So, no, stories such as that aren't perpetuated by slackjawed xenophobes---stories such

as that happen to have a strong basis in fact. Fact that has seemingly escaped those who

haven't thoroughly researched the subject. :)

[peter_evans4]

<p>That was a pleasant time in the garden. (Thanks for the suggestion.) I'm now back.</p><p><em>It's not your fault that your information is as defective as your attitude</em></p><p>How is my information defective?</p>

[charles_miller5]

A meaningless jab. It gave me pleasure. :)

[peter_evans4]

<p>Oh, that's quite all right then.</p><p>You know, you should really explore the wonderful world of funky old Japanese cameras. (Nah, you don't have to spend any money. Web surfing will suffice.) Whether or not they're crap (and I think we've done that to death), their charms include their <a href="http://rd2h-ari.hp.infoseek.co.jp/2GAN_LIST.htm">naming</a>.</p>

[don_mckeith]

dang, this is the longest thread I've seen in a long time-

 

Japanese camera/optical/photography history,if anyone's interested-

 

http://photojpn.org/notes/node.php?id=35

[john_smullen]

"Point of fact, a great number of Japanese tin toys from the 50s and 60s were made from tin cans and other recycled bits. And not in the modern sense of recycling, but in the sense that old cans were simply squashed flat and die-stamped into new shapes.

 

In another and more lucrative area of collecting---that of tin litho toys and robots from the 50s and 60s, the great majority of which were manufactured in Japan---it's generally accepted that any given specimen of wind-up toy may very well bear a lithographed coffee or tea or tobacco tin label on the inside.

 

So, no, stories such as that aren't perpetuated by slackjawed xenophobes---stories such as that happen to have a strong basis in fact. Fact that has seemingly escaped those who haven't thoroughly researched the subject. :)"

 

If those that repeat such stories were to qualify them by saying "Toys from Japan made in the 1950's were cheap..." that would be fine, because by in large the toys were cheap and inexpensive and they met a huge demand :). I suppose there were some toys made directly early on from re-stamped cans, but that was the exception. From first hand experience I can tell you that the insides of my pressed metal wind-up Constellation airplane were not made from Sapporo beer cans.

 

We all know (or should know by now) that Japan was rapidly rebuilding after the war. They were also moving to become big in trading, ship building, consumer electronics, watch making, banking, car manufacture, etc. Heck, by 1964 they hosted the Olympics in Tokyo and used it to showcase a recovered Japan and several new products.

 

To bring this back on point their camera and sport optics industries were producing quality products that within 10 years would come to dominate those markets. I'm fortunate to own a few good examples from Canon and Pentax. Japan also made some fun to collect inexpensive cameras. I've got a Toko Mighty (love that name) that has a dual finder system, extra lens, hood, film cassette, etc., and could at one time actually take a picture.

 

Unfortunately most of the comments I hear cover all Japanese products with no limitation as to product or time. Statements like "Japanese products made for several decades after the war are cheap junk, etc." are clearly wrong. They come across as mean spirited and xenophobic.