Made in occupied Japan!!!

[Jocko]

I wonder if to some extent the MIOJ inscription was not also a rather shrewd marketing tool. Japan had fought against its major export markets. Even in my childhood in the late 1960s there was very significant popular resistance to Japanese goods, which partly explains why Soviet electronics, cameras and cars were remarkably successful in Great Britain.

As an overt acknowledgment of defeat, MIOJ turns purchased goods into victorious booty and so undermines the objection to buying them. Given that camera manufacturers seem to have used the term for longer than was necessary, it obviously suited them.

Cheers, Ian

 

[BillBingham2]

The occupation of Japan and West Germany were in general wild successes. If you want to see a failure, look at Iraq today. MIOJ was partially a way to get people who had just lost loved ones in a war against this country to purchase good made there. I think it was also a way to get the people in Japan to realize that they were rebuilding their view of their country.

BTW, there are dozens of bases here in the U.S. that we are told we can not go on. The forces over seas have no rights to punish trespassers so that is done via the local government. I believe that if they are attacking the base, they can respond in kind, but that is not appropriate in the case of kids who might climb the fence to say graffiti the side of a hanger or something.

Hang in there guys (and gals), 99.999% of the U.S. wants nothing to do with world domination. There is a huge feeling that the folks we sent into the senate and congress to stop this crap have done nothing and they too might be kicked out next election. Pres Bush Jr will be gone then too. This guy is doing the right thing in the very WRONG way.

Trying to GBOT (get back on topic), MIOJ is an interesting marking from the historical perspective for folk who do not want to forget all the bad things that happened around the world for the years before.

B2 (;->

 

[wes loder]

Returning to the original question.
MIOJ = Made in occupied Japan. All manufactured goods intended for export were were required by the US Occupation authorites to have this mark from January 1947 until December 1949. Therefore the mark and the occupation do not exactly coincide. The treaty to end the US occupation was signed in September 1951 but the Occupation did not officially end until the following spring. The mark can be found on all Japanese goods from the shorter period, nor just camera equipment. Usually it is found on ceramics because that was Japan's most important export during that period.

Nippon Kogaku goods, such as binoculars and opera glasses manufactured during the Occupation, but prior to 1947 do not have the MIOJ mark, even though they were considered Occupation products.
NK continued to label its goods with the mark after December 1949 until the late spring of 1951. Why is difficult to answer but may have to do with requirements of the CPO (Central purchasing Office), the organization that handled goods for the military exchange stores. The end of the mark did not occur at the same time for all NK goods, but seems to be related to when a certain engraved part got used up.
The MIOJ mark is important because it clearly identifies goods manufactured during a specific time period when Japan was manufacturing items under extremely difficult circumstances. All other things being equal, NK goods with the mark are older and more valuable than the same goods without the mark. I hope this explanation helps. WES

 

[mich8261]

so are there any cameras with the markings Made in Occuppied Germany? Or any other MIO_?

 

[BillBingham2]

I do not remember any MIOG. West Germany became a reality and I think that accomplished the same thing.

B2 (;->

 

[micromontenegro]

I am almost sure that my Exakta has such a marking, but I will have to check when I get home...

 

[micromontenegro]

What I do remember is that, as a kid, I had a toy VW bug so marked. I remember asking my dad what it meant

 

[ferider]

Check out 220123932046, for instance. "Made in US-Zone" was used in the western part of Germany.

Not much industry in Germany the first few years after WWII. Most ex-Nazi Males ("Mitlaeufer")
were not allowed to work, and the country was carried largely by the women trying to get by.
Starvation, trading goods against food, meat at the most once per week, etc.

When my parents look back (they were 4 at the end of the war), they speak
highly of the US occupiers. One of my grand fathers was at home but not
allowed to work, the other in Siberia.

Roland.

 

[dexdog]

I am almost sure that my Exakta has such a marking, but I will have to check when I get home...

Exaktas marked "Made in Germany-U.S. Zone" turn up occasionally on eBay. I have seen examples of cameras marked with a USSR ocupation stamp, but cannot remember any specific brands at the moment.

 

[Jocko]

Before the Bundesrepublik and the DDR were fully established as sovereign states (1955) there was also a tendency to mark goods as "Made in Western/Eastern Germany", a term suggestive of an intrinsic unity, which the occupying powers had nominally maintained. Into the 1960s British photo magazines continued to use the term, particularly in regard to DDR cameras.

I suppose we should also remember the "Monte en Saar" Leicas....

Cheers, Ian

 

[VinceC]

>>Sign spotted in the middle of Roppongi, Tokyo just a few months ago.<<

If the installation is in Roppongi, it's probably the printing plant and editorial offices for the Pacific Edition of Stars and Stripes daily newspaper, which hardly, in itself, could be viewed as intimidating to the local population.

http://www.stripes.com/webpages.asp?id=97

As the sign in the photo clearly states, in two languages, trespassers will be punished under Japanese law, because Japan holds sovereignty over the military installation. That's because Japan is not occupied and U.S. forces remain stationed there under bilateral security treaties.

A number of sovereign nations have over the years rescinded basing agreements with U.S. forces -- including France, Libya, the Philippines, jurisdictions of Spain and Greece, Panama, Austria. There are also several nations in which the United States made the unilateral decision to withdraw from long-standing military installations, against the strong desires of local governments. The recent decision to close U.S. bases in Iceland caused economic hardship with the loss of a major employer. Two or three years ago, a group of German local government officials appeared before U.S. Congress asking that the United States not close bases within their jurisdictions, largely on economic grounds.

On the other hand, large-scale democratic opposition in Seoul, South Korea, helped lead to a plan by the United States and South Korean governments, and primarily funded by the South Korean government, to reposition U.S. forces away from the capital while still maintaining a meaningful military presence in the country.

 

[bmattock]

I like pie.

 

[VinceC]

I was wondering when this thread would attract BMattock. Welcome aboard!

 

[fgianni]

I like pie.

Me too, expecially apple pie!

 

[micromontenegro]

Moi, j'aime tarte tatin

 

[dexdog]

Moi, j'aime tarte tatin

Moi, aussi!

 

[VinceC]

Pie ala' mode is best.

 

[micromontenegro]

Mais oui, mon cher ami, one of the Tatin sisters screwed up an apple pie in 1898 but served it nonetheless. People liked it, and they jumped at the chance to make a pretty penny! I, for one, like it alot. In winter, of course

 

[mich8261]

je préfère la tarte au sirop d'érable.

 

[NIKON KIU]

Thin Line

Thin Line

There is a fine line when considring items engraved MIOJ!!
Consider this:

A 13.5cm finder,although not marked MIOJ(none of the regular finders were) but never the less considered MIOJ because of the early vintage. Note the serial number 50701065 which most collectors believe represents the date of design/production of the item. This leads us to believe the 13.5cm finder was designed/produced in 07/1950 or July of 1950 which is well within the Occupation era. It is generally believed that Nippon Kogaku marked items "Tokyo" instead of "Japan" during the occupation

Now here is another example:

This is a 910xxxx series lens that is marked "Tokyo" but here is the surprise

Yes this lens is engraved "Made in Japan"!!

Now,there are numeous examples of later vintage lenses that are MIOJ but other example exist within the same batch of numbers that are not.
How can this be explained?
As Wes Loder mentioned earlier in this thread, it seems that Nikon was using Parts engraved "MIOJ" long after the occupation ended,Soooo,NOT ALL MIOJ stuff are MIOJ!!!
Go figure....

Kiu

PS: I am not to be taken seriously,this is a FOTO forum after-all