Despite the fact that I grew up in a suburban home as a part of middle-class America, the culture of Japan had a definite connection to my childhood. One of my favorite television shows as a child was Voltron, a cartoon series originating in Japan. Moreover, the pride and joy of my toy collection were my Voltron action figures. Although I am somewhat uncertain about the origins of shows like Thundercats, Go-Bots, and Transformers (whose action figures I also owned and loved) I have read in the past that they are Japanese imports, and even if they are not, the influence of the Japanese style of animation is certainly apparent. Towards the end of my childhood, I remember watching The Power Rangers and thinking it too was a great show. I was no longer a big fan of action figures by this point, but I still enjoyed playing with the Power Ranger figures with my young cousin.

Moreover, from the moment I first pushed the buttons on the controls of the Nintendo given to me one lucky Christmas, I was hooked on video games. In fact, hardly know anyone my age that doesn't have a strong love and nostalgia for the good old days of 8-bit Nintendo (Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right-A-B-A-B-Start, anyone?). And we grew up, so did our video game systems. Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis soon followed Nintendo, only later to be surpassed by Sony Playstation and Nintendo 64. If it were not for the wonderful, technologically progressive culture of Japan, I never would have had the opportunity to spend hours and hours (and hours and hours) of my childhood engaging in the (absolutely worthwhile) excitement of video games.

From my experiences with Japanese-inspired action figures and video games, I have drawn one solid conclusion-- Japanese toys are awesome! As I watched Site 7 of StarFestival, I not only became nostalgic for my past toys, but also curious about the many Japanese toys, past and present, to which I had never been exposed. Hence, for my midterm project, I have attempted to assemble an overview of Japanese toys for those of us in the class who have had little exposure to the Japanese consumer market. As was the case during my childhood, many of the more popular toys in modern-day Japan attain significant popularity in the United States. By means of this site, I intend to not only point out these culture-crossing toys, but also provide information on toys that never gained notoriety stateside. This includes both traditional Japanese toys and modern-day toys that are still well received by consumers in Japan. Hopefully, as you peruse this site you will not only learn a great deal about the toys that provide pleasure to million of Japanese tykes (past and present), but will also fondly recall those toys that entertained you during your own childhood.