Still making plans for the upcoming week-end,
the exhibit Buriki Japanese Tin Toys from the Golden Age of the American Automobile is in its last few days at the Japan Society in New York.
The show features some of the Yoku Tanaka Collection which counts some 500 models.
Program Notes:
"Buriki presents seventy miniature masterpieces that track the glory
days of the Big Three automakers. These faithful models of Cadillacs,
Buicks, Chryslers, Pontiacs, Chevrolets, Studebakers, and Fords
chronicle a unique epoch in relations between Japan and the United
States and will delight toy fanatics and car aficionados of all ages!"
There is also a companion book to the show whose cover illustration (below) I borrowed for this piece.
This labor of love by Joe Earle (director of the gallery at Japan Society in New York City) is titled Buriki, Japanese Tin Toys from the Golden Age of the American Automobile: The Yoku Tanaka Collection and was published in June 2009 by Yale University Press.
We learn from the book's introduction that "Tin toys have been made in Japan for more than 100 years, but during
World War II their production—and international sales—ended. Almost as
soon as the war was over, ingenious manufacturers began to make model
Jeeps out of recycled food cans. With the resumption of international
trade in 1948, exports of more sophisticated metal toys soared. At the
same time, the postwar boom in the United States led to an increasingly
automobile-based society—the perfect inspiration for Japan’s gifted toy
designers."
An American Graffiti like Tokyo Thursdays # 100
Yes, 100 Tokyo Thursdays!
Previously: Uchimizu, Cool Streets on Hot Summer Days, Maids or Not, Japan Style