Collecting Occupied Japan

In order to help the Japanese economy recover after World War II, many factories produced “trinkets” for cheap export especially for the American market. All the items made in Japan during our occupation of the country from the end of the war through April of 1952, could have been marked in four different ways: “Japan,” “Made in Japan,” “Occupied Japan” or “Made in Occupied Japan.”

As you can see all four of these marks pretty much came from the same era although items marked with “occupied” designation are a little more valuable and sought after by collectors.

As you can imagine, the Japanese people were not overjoyed with the occupation of their country and did not want to “advertise” this and that is why about half of the production was not marked as “occupied.”

A majority of the items produced were cheap porcelains, chalk or metals. The quality of the painting widely varied, some are better than others. Most items were mass produced as souvenirs or advertising.

If you would like to start a collection, “OCJ” is very affordable, plentiful and doesn’t take up much space. Prices have not increased much since the recent recession.

It is also an interesting entry level collectible for children and involves a great history lesson to boot!

Hope to see you at the Darnell Estate sale this weekend!

Happy Collecting!

Jillinda Falen has been buying and selling antiques for over 27 years and is a licensed REALTOR and estate liquidation specialist. You can contact her through the Houston Home Journal or via email at falen@windstream.net

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