"MADE IN JAPAN" Neck Label Sticker

[Sigmania]

Going to start collecting these to try to sort out when they began using these and where?

 

[Sigmania]

Tokai 'Breezy Sound' Electric Tele Guitar Made in Japan | eBay

 

[ATO]

MIJ sticker ST50 Block logo 12804

(There is another block ST50 MB 12431 7=1 July 82)

 

[ATO]

TE50 block logo
1982
12964

 

[Sigmania]

SN 2019164

On an export likely bound for the US (IMC in Texas).

Tokai .38 Special 4 String Bass Guitar Red MIJ

 

[Sigmania]

I don't know what countries required items to show country of origin, but here in the US that was definitely a requirement at least as far back as the 80s. That was because Japanese manufacturing was kicking our butts and there was a campaign initiated by American manufacturers to buy American, and the choice needed to be clear.

I am assuming there was a similar requirement in the UK as well?

The long, tangled story behind country-of-origin labels - Marketplace

 

[Sigmania]

February stamps and 1982 serial number.....

That is early!

And earliest MADE IN JAPAN sticker I have seen on a Tokai outside of the early 70s.

SN 2018568

Neck 2 = 4
Body: 2 = 4 MR

Tokai 38 Special Red Strat guitar 1980s Made in Japan Original hard case

 

[Homer J. Simpson]

I don't know what countries required items to show country of origin, [...]

I am assuming there was a similar requirement in the UK as well?

That was my initial theory since they seemed to have started with the UK legal incident, so I tried to find out if this was maybe due to the Merchandise Marks Act 1887 and learned that there are some widespread misconceptions about that (and the "Made in Germany") label, similar to the chain of tariff acts in the US it has been superseded by other laws (e.g. the Trade Descriptions Act 1968) but it seemed to me this hasn't been a requirement at all for at least a long, long time?

So I thought this might have been just some belt and braces answer to the 1982 UK trouble, maybe also in preparation for exports to the US (where that requirement may or may not have been still in effect, confusing matter as per the article you linked).

 

[Sigmania]

When I was growing up in the 70s in the US, the only labels of this type that I really remember were MADE IN JAPAN and some MADE IN W GERMANY.

I assume this was a chamber of commerce sort of thing to try and get consumers to favor domestically produced items.

For the longest time MADE IN JAPAN was synonymous with shoddy quality, but that all changed in the late 70s and Japanese mfg. became a symbol of quality, particularly in automobiles, and consequently I don't remember noticing those labels so much...