User:Alpha Trihard/sandbox
Takara history section
The earliest start for Takara (タカラ) was as the ”Satō Manufacturing Plant (佐藤加工所)”, founded by Yasuta Satō in 1953. By 1955, Satō had been successful enough to create “Satō Vinyl Industries Co. Ltd. (有限会社佐藤ビニール工業所)” in the Takaramachi (宝町) neighborhood of Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward (葛飾区). After moving to nearby Aoto (青砥) neighborhood, the company’s name was changed to “Takara Vinyl Industries Co. Ltd. (株式会社宝ビニール工業所)”, in honor of the neighborhood where the company started. At first, the name "Takara" was written in kanji: "宝", like the physical place. This would have made them the "Treasure Vinyl Industries Co. Ltd." at the time. The company would change their name several more times over the next couple years, first to "Takara Vinyl Industries Co. Ltd. (株式会社タカラビニール工業所)" (now in katakana), and finally “Takara Co. Ltd. (株式会社タカラ)” in 1966, casually referred to as just "Takara" . Before the creation of Licca-chan and licensing Hasbro's G.I. Joe, if Takara did make toys, these were limited to those made from vinyl sheeting, such as floating pool toys and other inflatables.
Takara’s first big success was 1960, when they became the manufacturer of an inflatable vinyl toy distributed by Tsukudaya Toys (later Tsukuda Co.), called "Tree-Climbing Winky" (木のぼりウィンキー). Unfortunately, Tree-Climbing Winky was a caricature of a person of African descent, using the racist design language originating from American minstrel shows. The doll's pose was similar to a koala, and was meant to be wrapped around objects which made it look as though the doll was hanging on, or climbing them. In the summer of 1960, the toy became an enormous pop culture fad in Japan, appearing in tv shows, comics, and was even mentioned in songs. They were worn as a fashion accessory, hanging off a person's arm. Because the doll had a very simple design, knock-offs soon became widespread. Tsukudaya Toys responded by taking out newspaper advertisements reminding customers to "Look for the Tsukudaya Bell Mark" (their logo at the time), to assure it was authentic.
In the first six months alone Tree-Climbing Winky had sold over 2.4 million units, and was even exported for sale in other countries, such as Denmark, and the United States. The financial success from these sales gave Takara the ability to separate from their deal with Tsukudaya, and strike out on their own to design, market, and sell toys as a distributor, instead of acting as a manufacturer.
Takara decided to drop the name "Tree-Climbing Winky", and officially adopt the nickname "Dakko-chan (ダッコちゃん / だっこちゃん)", which most customers knew it the toy by anyway. The word "dakko (抱っこ)" meaning "to hug / carry a child or pet in your arms" in Japanese. Takara also adopted Dakko-chan as their company logo, instructing customers to "Look for the Dakko-chan mark", to ensure an item’s quality. It would remain their logo for 30 years, until it was removed in 1990. This means the Dakko-chan logo will regularly be found on Japanese G1 products and packaging. In addition, the logo has often been used as an easter egg in Takara and TakaraTomy products, such as the Famicom Game, Mystery of Convoy, and the design of Dimicron Prime.
