Toys

It used to be that toys that were labeled “made in Japan” were thought of as those small, cheap, mass-produced items that were bought on a whim and then quickly lost or forgotten. Even then Japan exported millions of low-cost toys throughout the world. With the coming of the technological age, however, Japanese toys became much more than just dime-store novelties. High-tech toys for both children and adults are now a major Japanese export.

Although video game players were first produced and sold in the United States by Atari, Japan quickly followed suit with their production of the Nintendo video game player, followed by others such as the Sony Playstation. Once again, Japanese technology provided superior quality, and exports of their video game systems became a substantial moneymaking enterprise. Not just the systems, but Japanese video games flooded the markets in countries all over the world.

Robotic toys play a major part in Japanese toy exports – and they’re not just for children. The smaller robots make fun and interesting children’s toys, and adults are drawn to the larger toy robots that can actually perform rudimentary functions such as fetching and serving, with new innovations in Japanese robotic functions being developed every year.