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No.17 Good Morning by Keiko Kimura
§ The Barbie dolls and Japan
Keiko Kimura is also known as a collector of the vintage "Barbie" dolls, which were exclusively produced and marketed in Japan in the 1960's.
A photo book of her collection was published in 1994 under the title of "Barbie in Japan (Amazon)" from "Hobby House Pr Inc" authored by "Keiko Kimura".
"Barbie", "Licca-chan(Photo)" and "Jenny" are the best popular dress-up dolls in Japan for the recent 50 years.
Some of the lucky girls used to be given one of these dolls from their parents or the relatives, for the birthday gift, or a Christmas present.
And a few of them became an extreme collector of dolls like Keiko Kimura did.
Yes. "Barbie" is a doll first marketed by American toy company "Mattel".
But, interestingly, the first Barbie debuted American market in 1959 was manufactured in Japan.
At that time, the textile industry was flourish in Japan. So, the variety of reasonable materials for making clothes of Barbie doll were easily obtainable.
In addition, the careful hand sewing of Japan's seamstresses (actually most of them were average housewives worked at-home.) might also be the important point to start production in Japan.
Luckily, the "Barbie" from Japan were well accepted by the American customers, and recorded a good sale in the market. Very good.
In a sense, you can call Japan as a "Country of Dolls". There is a long unique history and culture for dolls.
In the social events, or the (traditional) daily life, the dolls are always the important members. Please have a look at this Wiki page if you like. (Wikipedia-en Doll)
It would be a good idea to plan your travel for looking around the doll related sites on you next visit to Japan. There are so many interesting place around Tokyo or Kyoto.
Thank you for reading the long article.
