This generation grew up having easy access to many Japanese Products but that has not always been the case. This timeline takes you through when some of the most Prominent Japanese Companies made their way into the United States market and eventually your homes.
Mitsu & Co. was one of the first companies to invest in the United States from Japan. They opened their first office in New York City in 1879.
Yokohama Specie Bank, predecessor of Bank of Tokyo, set up an agency in New York to finance trade with Japan.
By 1914, the amount of Japanese investment in the United States was still around $25 million. The total foreign investment in the United States at the time was around $7.1 billion
In 1957 Toyota formed Toyota Motor Sales USA. After realizing that many european models were selling successfully in the US, Japan decided to attempt to follow the trend.
1959
1960
1960
1960 Owner of Panasonic Products
1960 SONY established SONY corporation of America in 1960. They originally started off selling radios and television sets but have expanded broadly since then.
1960
Though Benihana is US based, its first store was opened in 1964, around the time that japanese products were getting increasingly popular and prevalent in the US marketplace.
Some firms like Mitsubishi entered the US marketplace coincidentally. When a Texan importer of Mitsubishi private planes went bankrupt, Mitsubishi took over.
Mazda formally entered the US market in 1970 as Mazda North American Operations.
Sanrio, the company who founded Hello Kitty, opens its first US store in San Francisco in 1976
Most famous the US for the Tamagotchi, a small hand held game, Bandai established an expansion plan to the US in 1978.
More commonly known as the founder of Hi-Chews and many other popular Japanese snacks, Morinaga found their way onto the shelves of American grocery stores.
Japanese optics and imaging specialist Nikon entered the US marketplace in 1982 by establishing Nikon Precision Inc.
Nintendo entered the US marketplace using the Famicon under their new name: Nintendo Entertainment Systems
SONY's acquisition of Columbia PIctures triggered a lot of bitter sentiment toward Japanese Companies.
People started to fear Japanese investments as they started to take over many american places. It became known as the "Japanese Invasion".
The english adaptations of Sailor Moon came out in 1995, 4 years after its original manga began being written.
Playstations arrived in the US after just one year of production in Japan.
Mandarake is the largest distributer or Manga and Anime products in Japan. Due to the growing popularity of Japanese anime in the United States, they entered the US market in 1999.
Pokemon USA was created in 2001 to regulate all Pokemon licensing and marketing in the US marketplace.
Yu-Gi-Oh, Japanese anime show, entered the US marketplace after gaining 5 years of popularity in Japan.
Creater of now popular american snacks like Pocky, this company entered the US with the creation of Ezaki Glico USA Corp. in California in 2003
Uniqlo opened their first store in Hiroshima Japan in 1985. After about 30 years of becoming successful in their domestic market, they entered the US by opening their first store in New York in 2005.
A product of Nintendo, Japan introduced the Wii to the US public in 2006. The commercial on the left demonstrates the Japanese origin of Wii and shows how it can become part of every american household.
The Japanese Dollar Store Giant started making waves on the west coast of US in 2007.
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