Why did Japan crank out millions and millions of worthless trinkets after WWll, and why was there a market?

To rebuild their economy, which we destroyed. There was a market because the stuff was cheap. Most of them were toys for kids, not anything that would be considered valuable.
Half the stuff I had as a kid came from Japan. I remember a tube of “lipstick.” You could take the lid off and twist the bottom of the tube, and the lipstick came out. However, it was just plastic painted red. I loved it.

Passive agressive revenge?

You’re right, it was all over the place. You could pick up any little figurine or dish and expect to see ”MADE IN JAPAN” stamped on the back. Many of the figurines, such as the pseudo-Hummels, were knock-offs. I don’t know why people bought them. But I do know that people still buy tons of crap for display because they find it irresistibly cute.

Economics. They needed to bring in cash flow and they didn’t have much money at the time to spend on either heavy manufacturing equipment or raw materials. So they went for high volume and low priced merchandise.

Of course, 40 years later, they became experts in electronics manufacturing, etc., but only because they had made lots of money selling trinkets previously.

(And remember this dreadful quote, possibly apocryphal, attributed to H. L. Mencken: “No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.”)

They were China before China took their spot making worthless crap.

@Jeruba and no one ever went broke underestimating the gullibility of the American public. The first individual plastic bottled water was Evian, which is naive spelled backward.

What? You don’t like kitsch?

It’s like gift shop at every fifties and sixties tourist trap. “Ooh, a kitty souvenir of my trip to the Sea Lion Caves/Santa Claus Land/Paul Bunyan Statue/MtRushmore!”

Hey! Those tourist traps in the 60’s were FUN!!! The vibrating beds in the motels were fun too. :D

I’m having a hard time finding an image large enough to show what dross this stuff was at the time.
I guess that was the beginning of the “Baby Boom” (1946 and 1964) and tract housing for the returning soldiers. Gifts and decorations (cheap).

I focus on the cheap porcelain figurines because so many of them survive, @Dutchess_III, but, of course, most of those cheap toys didn’t make it (although I think you’re about a Taiwan) kid. More later on that.

We probably know the figurines and dishes more because they were more durable, @Jeruba. As @Dutchess_III points out, there was probably a lot more ephemera produced that was used up.

High volume/low priced and American baby-boomer consumers, I see, @elbanditoroso

What? @majorrich “Made in Taiwan” didn’t transition you from Japan to China??

Kitsch? KItsch? I have a (small) collection of Cleminson’s pottery
@zenvelo.

The porcelain figurines are what I see a lot at stores that sell collectibles and at flea markets. I have from my mother and her siblings a bunch of similar knick knacks. My mom said they all had their own knick knack shelves, and when they went on vacation, a souvenir would be a little figurine that they got to put on their shelf. It’s outdated now, but it seems kind of charming.

I merely truncated the story a bit.

Why was there a market? Because as crappy and cheap as it was, by and large, it was cute crap. And there seems to be a neverending market for cute crap.

The current ones cashing in on this big time is the Sanrio Corp, the ones who created “Hello Kitty”.

Just last night there was a piece on Nightline featuring their mobile store/van (Hello Kitty Cafe) which sold out completely in several hours. Even tho they were quickly out of a lot of the more desirable items, that didn’t deter one middle aged guy who was proudly wearing his pink headband with the big bow, one of the few items still available.

As opposed to China, Japan has a well deserved reputation for knowing what’s adorable and cute (and capitalizing upon it still.) They still make some of the cutest iPhone cases on the market. China makes some of the cheapest but Japan makes some of the cutest and cheapest.

And the Japanese people themselves really love cute in all it’s various incarnations. It’s no accident that the first Disney park outside the USA was built in Japan, near Tokyo (even tho they’re famously crowded for space over there.) And there’s a ton of Disney stuff for sale all over Japan, more so than anywhere else. They love all this cute stuff enthusiastically and unabashedly.

Might as well go with your strengths :)

Same reason they were encouraged to hunt and eat whale. They had to use what they had cteate jobs, make money and feed their population.

When you say “worthless crap” you’re making a value judgment that applies to your view of things and the world in general – and I’m not going to judge you for having the opinion – but it is just your opinion. I happen to share that opinion for most of the things included in the link, but that still makes it a minority opinion.

Surely you’re intelligent and aware enough to realize that the world doesn’t function on just what you and I like and want in our homes, and what we’re willing to pay for. Most people in the world will not even be aware of most things in the world, and will not want more than a tiny fraction of the things that they even know about.

But obviously there was a market for those things, just as – I hear – there are markets for eggplants, squash, zucchini and other such odious vegetables, and a lot more vegetables that I don’t even know about. “Why would people grow such hideous things?”

Some people like it, obviously. Things are not made by mass marketers that “nobody” wants. Even Edsels eventually sold, once the pricing makes the thing attractive to a buyer. And if a producer is still making money at that sale price, then he or she will probably make more of them.

As co-owner of an auction house and a dealer in junk, it’s my informed opinion that most of the stuff is and was worthless crap, @CWOTUS.

“Worthless crap: items used to fill a box with the hope that someone will pay $2 for the privilege of hauling said box off.”
(Otherwise someone is going to have to buy the row for $2.)
(Otherwise someone is going to have to buy the rest of the wagon for $2.)
(Otherwise the dumpster will be full tomorrow.)

Perhaps by buying these cheap trinkets, Americans could relieve their guilt from dropping two atomic bombs on Japan.

@cazzie – I don’t buy that. I wasn’t born at the time, but as I read history, there wasn’t a whole lot of guilt about dropping the a-bomb. There was more glee and happiness that the stinking war was over.

It’s nice to impute guilt from a distance of 70 years, but I don’t think that’s true.

I think it’s probably mostly due to the Baby Boomers.
Things to fill those GI tract houses with at little cost.

I also think people exchanged a lot more ‘token’ gifts then, too. My grandmother was a well liked grade school teacher and she had tons of worthless crap. A lot more women were home during the day and afternoon bridge or social organization parties were common.