MADE IN JAPAN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2127, 13 May 1920, Page 1

MADE IN JAPAN.

A RAPID SLUMP IN IMITATIONS

A NASTY JAR TO TRADE

Id the early days of tin? war, when (his country, in common with the other overseas Dominions, had to look round for another source from which to obtain those goods Avhich previously had come from Germany and from Great Britain and the Allied countries, ,Japan’s commercial opportunity arrived. ■ The Japs, were not slow to sense it, and we were quickly Hooded with articles so faithfully imitated in outward appearances from European models that they even had on them in many instances the German, .British, and French trade marks. At first blusli it seemed that a new and formidable manufacturing competitor had entered the field —the more formidable from the fact that the prices he ((noted were absolutely low compared with quotations for similar articles of European and American make. .And then came the awakening. Although the goods so eagerly ordered from Japan had every appearance of being up to ’sample, they fell wo'efully below the mark when put to the test, and though while the war continued imports from Japan were the alternative to going without, the trade in what may he called imitative lines has declined almost as rapidly as it started, till to-day very few merchants care to handle Japanese manufactures if they can avoid doing so. IMITATING THE PAINT. The common opinion about the failure of the articles ‘‘made in Japan” to make good under (lie acid lest of use is that Japanese commercial morality is largely to blame. But some inquiries by a Sfar representative among Auckland merchants who deal or have dealt in Japanese lines tends to modify this opinion to a considerable extent. “There is no doubt,” remarked one closely acquainted with the Japanese trade, “that the Jap is a pretty shrewd business man, and is not above playing pranks if opportunity favours him. But he is out to capture markets, and no one. knows belter than the Jap that commercial dishonesty is a ,bad asset, for the securing of foreign trade. A lot of the trouble seems to have arisen from the fact that he was called upon at short notice to produce goods that were absolutely foreign to his knowledge. So he obtained samples and imitated them. la outward appearance the imitation was perl eel, but the Japanese manufacturer really knew nothing about the goods lie was turning out, and the consequence was that in the majority of eases quality, as we understand it, was conspicuously missing. Not always so, for remarkably honest parcels of goods have come along, and this has been a factor towards increasing suspicion of the commercial morality of our Pacific' allies, for people could not understand the reason for this inequality. The real reason for this is that a great pqrt of these ‘made in Japan’ goods are put up in large numbers of small factories. The Japanese middleman who has been -responsible for ranch of the ill repute that has become attached to the manufactures of his country, has chosen samples from a factory that is turning out a genuinely good article, but makes up his shipment orders by collecting from all and sundry, irrespective of the quality. Maledictions on Japan and her manufactures follow at this end when the goods are opened up. Had the Japanese Government appointed agents, as they have now done, in the early days of the export rush, and prohibited the export of any but honest manufactures, a good deal of loss would have been caused to the big crop oi small manufacturers that sprouted up all over the laud like mushrooms, but her trade would have been started on a sound and lasting basis, and would never have looked back. As it was, they began to export before they knew how to make the goods, and now they arc paying for their experience. But the Jap. has his lesson, and he will come again. And if he is beaten out of the market next time it will not be because of the quality of his goods, or rather lack of it.” A FATAL MISTAKE. Another merchant expressed a similar opinion about the reason for the slumj) in Japanese goods other than those which have been readily imported from that country. He pointed out, though,, that the Japs, make goods in different grades, ami that although the lower grades are usually worthless rubbish, Japanese first grade goods are invariably good, and oftentimes superior to the European manufacturer. For : some years, however, they have been doing a big export trade in raauu- v factures in Siberia and China, and for the greater part this trade is in very low grade goods. When they

.started shipping to our market they began emptying the same class of stuff on us, and they only awoke'to their mistake when the damage was done, and the brand “made in Japan” had become anathema to merchants and the public alike in Australasia. He remarked that the Japanese Government is doing all in its power now to recover the ground so quickly won and lost, but the slip was going to be a very costly one, and public opinion, in the Dominion at all events, would be slow to accept a Japanese trade mark on its presumptive value for a long while to come.