Canelon Toys

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Canelon Toys Logo.png
Canelon Toys
Founded: 1884[1][2]
Merged with: Maruzen Co. Ltd (株式会社丸善)
Headquarters:
Honjō, Saitama Prefecture, Japan (formerly: Chiyoda, Tokyo)

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Canelon Toys (株式会社キャネロン, Kabushiki Gaisha Kyaneron), currently Canelon Chemicals Co. Ltd[3] (キャネロン化工株式会社, Kyaneron Kakō Kabushiki Gaisha), a division of Maruzen Co. Ltd[4] (株式会社丸善, Kabushiki Gaisha Maruzen), is a plastic products[5] manufacturing company (plastic containers, trays, packaging and growing systems for the horticultural and food industries) and former toy manufacturer[6][7][8][9] based in Honjō, Japan.

Canelon Chemicals Co. Ltd. (キャネロン化工株式会社) in Honjō, Japan, as seen in 2012

History

Nagamine Seijiro Shoten (永峰清次郎商店) headquarters in the Kuramae district of Asakusa, Tokyo, as seen in 1917[10][11]
Nagamine Celluloid Industry Co. Ltd (永峰セルロイド工業株式会社) headquarters in the Torigoe district of Asakusa, Tokyo, as seen in 1938[12][13]

The history of the company can be traced back to the Meiji era[2], when Japanese entrepreneur and pioneer of the Japanese celluloid industry[14] Seijiro Nagamine[15][16] (永峰清次郎[17], Nagamine Seijiro), an Edo-style tortoiseshell craftsman[18][19] who had just started production of celluloid combs, manufactured[20][21][22] celluloid blow ball pipes known as "Fukiage balls" (吹き上げ玉, Fukiage-dama) in 1894[23], the first celluloid toys in the history of Japan, produced in his workshop called Nagamine Seijiro Shoten (永峰清次郎商店, lit. Seijiro Nagamine Store) established in 1884, a business that he runned with the help of his two sons Seizaburo Nagamine[11] (永峰誠三郎[24], Nagamine Seizaburo) and Kanematsu Nagamine[11] (永峰兼松[25][26], Nagamine Kanematsu).

Three years later in 1897[2], Gendō Tsuboi[27][28] (坪井玄道) introduced in Japan the first table tennis ball and in the next year in 1898[2] production of table tennis balls[29] begins at Seijiro Nagamine's workshop which had just began exporting celluloid blow ball pipes in that year, shipping fifty dozens[21] to Chongqing in China.

In 1911[2][23] Seijiro Nagamine invented the blow molding method of manufacturing dolls, which he patented in 1913[30][31][32] and in 1915 Nagamine's celluloid dolls manufactured with this method were ehxibited[33][15][16] for the first time outside Japan at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition held in San Francisco.

The demand for Japanese toys increased due to the outbreak of World War I a year before in 1914[2] and in June 1918[34][35] the Japan Celluloid Products Export and Trade Association (日本セルロイド製品同業組合連合会, Nihon Seruroido Seihin Dōgyō Kumiai Rengō-kai) was established with the permission of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce of Japan, for the purpose of conducting export inspections and eliminating defective products in the industry and Seijiro Nagamine who at the time had three large manufacturing plants in Tokyo Metropolis, located in the special wards of Chiyoda, Kōtō and Arakawa, was appointed the representative for the Tokyo region, later changing the name of the company to Nagamine Celluloid Industry Co. Ltd.[36][37][38][39][40][41] (永峰セルロイド工業株式会社[42][43], Nagamine Seruroido[44][45][46][47][48] Kogyo Kabushiki Gaisha) also known as Nagamine Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.[12][13] (株式会社永峰化成工業[49], Kabushiki Gaisha Nagamine Kasei Kogyo). Export value of celluloid toys exceeded 350 million yen in that year but after only two years in 1920[2], demand decreased substantially and orders plummeted to less than one quarter. It was also arround that time in 1920[50] that the company started trading as Chiyoda Kogyo Kaisha, Ltd[51][52][53][54] (千代田工業株式会社[24][43], Chiyoda Industry Co. Ltd.) for some time, returning to its former name some years later.

In 1924[2] economy recovered and both exports and domestic consumption increased and three years later in 1927 the production volume was the largest since the decline in demand four years before. This however caused a series of business difficulties with the major of them being a drop in prices.

The Japanese industry of celluloid enjoyed a decade of prosperity during the 1930s[55] with a record of billions in production and with an export value of 20 million yen in 1935[55], supplanted only by a 42 million yen export value in 1937[55].

However in 1940[55] after Europe banned imports of Japanese toys due to the outbreak of World War II, the company ceased operations until 1945[55], when despite the catastrophic impact, it managed[55] to resume production at the end of the war.

On July 18, 1949[56] Nagamine Celluloid Industry Co. Ltd. (永峰セルロイド工業株式会社) amalgamated[57] Tokyo-based trading company, Nagamine Shoji Co. Ltd[58] (永峰商事株式会社[59]), establishing branch offices in the cities of Osaka, Sendai, Takaoka and Fukuoka, adopting the name of the amalgamated company sometime later and becoming famous in the 1960s and 1970s for its line of plastic toys and dolls and mechanical tin toys (Roly Poly, Elephant Merry-Go-Round, etc) which were sold in Japan and abroad under the brand[60][61] name "Canelon" (キャネロン, Kyaneron), a trademark for articles of a non-inflammable type of rigid vinyl[62] introduced by the company in August 1953 (being stimulated, by the importation of polyvinyl chloride from the United States after the war, Japanese toymakers have succeeded in replacing the higly flammable celluloid, by non-inflammable plastic after painstaking research), which gained high reputation and were subsequently exported to the United States and Canada two months later in October of the same year, replacing articles of their previous trademarks "Chiyoloid"[63][64][65][66] (チヨロイド, Chiyoroido) and "Nack"[67][63] (ナック , Nakku).

Sometime in 1986, the company changed its name to Canelon Co. Ltd. (named after its well known brand of toys), producing mostly toys for babies, including several from the Miffy series of toys for children, sold by Sega in Japan, like the Busy Gym, later manufactured and distributed exclusively by Sega Toys.

In 2002 the company was acquired by Maruzen Co. Ltd (株式会社丸善) which had been investing capital in the company since 1989, becoming Canelon Chemicals Co. Ltd. (キャネロン化工株式会社).

Promotional material

Print advertisements

NagamineBlowBallPipe JP Billboard (circa 1898).jpg
Outdoor advertisement for Nagamine's "Fukiage balls" (吹き上げ玉), circa 1898[21]
NagamineBlowBallPipe JP Billboard (circa 1898).jpg
NagamineCelluloidProcessingDepartment JP PrintAdvert 1910.jpg
A 1910[68] print advert for Nagamine Celluloid Processing Department (永峰セルロイド加工部, Nagamine Seruroido Kakō-bu)
NagamineCelluloidProcessingDepartment JP PrintAdvert 1910.jpg
NagamineSheijiroShoten JP Print Advert 1916.jpg
A 1916[31] print advert for Nagamine Seijiro Shoten (永峰清次郎商店) showing the "iconic" trademark logo of the company composed by a stylish letter "N" inside a three-leaf clover[69]
NagamineSheijiroShoten JP Print Advert 1916.jpg
<div style="width:Expression error: Unexpected < operator.px; padding-left:2px; padding-top:5px; padding-right:2px;">A print advert for Chiyoda Kogyo Kaisha, Ltd. (千代田工業株式会社) featured on the 1920 edition of "The Japan Trading Guidance"
NagamineCelluloid JP PrintAdvert.jpg
A print advert for Nagamine Cellulloid Industry Co. Ltd. (永峰セルロイド工業株式会社; unknown date)
NagamineCelluloid JP PrintAdvert.jpg
<div style="width:Expression error: Unexpected < operator.px; padding-left:2px; padding-top:5px; padding-right:2px;">A print advert for Nagamine Celluloid Industry Co. Ltd. (永峰セルロイド工業株式会社) featured on the 1938/1939 edition of "The Indo-Japanese Business Directory"
Canelon JP PrintAdvert.jpg
An old print advert for Canelon Toys (Nagamine Shoji Co. Ltd., 永峰商事株式会社) featured on the September 1966[70] edition of the Japanese magazine "Tokyo Toy and Commerce Report"
Canelon JP PrintAdvert.jpg
Tokyo Toy and Commerce Report September's 1966 Issue.jpg
"Tokyo Toy and Commerce Report" September 1966[70] edition
Tokyo Toy and Commerce Report September's 1966 Issue.jpg
<div style="width:Expression error: Unexpected < operator.px; padding-left:2px; padding-top:5px; padding-right:2px;">Print adverts for some stuffed toys and dolls manufactured by Canelon Toys (Nagamine Shoji Co. Ltd., 永峰商事株式会社) featured on a 1985 Japanese toy catalogue

Patents

Gallery

Old toys

External links

References

  1. https://i.ibb.co/WthVD8z/Glimpses-of-East-Asia-Book-JP-1935-Volume-18-page-54.jpg (archive.today)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 File:History of Japanese Celluloid Industry JP Part 2.pdf, page 9
  3. http://www.maruzen.net/canelon/index.html
  4. http://www.maruzen.net/index.html
  5. https://archive.fo/3PqVZ/da23d02a759ca3fc58eff4f28ce4c8f96b00fe61
  6. File:CanelonToys Box.jpg
  7. File:CanelonToys Doll.jpg
  8. File:CanelonToys Baby Toy.jpg
  9. File:CanelonToys Piano.jpg
  10. File:Japan in the Taisho Era Book JP 1917 (by Nishizawa, Iwata).pdf, page 725
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 File:Japan in the Taisho Era Book JP 1917 (by Nishizawa, Iwata).pdf, page 726
  12. 12.0 12.1 File:The Indo-Japanese Business Directory 1938-1939 Book JP (by Nakaya Misuma Company Limited).pdf, page 211
  13. 13.0 13.1 File:The Indo-Japanese Business Directory 1938-1939 Book JP (by Nakaya Misuma Company Limited).pdf, page 244
  14. File:TheChemistandDruggist UK 1920-06-26.pdf, page 204
  15. 15.0 15.1 File:Japan and Her Exhibits at the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition Book JP 1915 (by Hakurankwai Kyokwai, Tokyo).pdf, page 282
  16. 16.0 16.1 File:Japan and Her Exhibits at the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition Book JP 1915 (by Hakurankwai Kyokwai, Tokyo).pdf, page 466
  17. File:Celluloid Library Memoir House of Yokohama; Conference Osaka 2008.pdf, page 18
  18. http://archive.vn/UFo7E
  19. http://archive.vn/9HR9l
  20. File:Yokohama Port and Celluloid Toys JP Research Report (by Kazuhiko Matsuo).pdf, page 6
  21. 21.0 21.1 21.2 File:Yokohama Port and Celluloid Toys JP Research Report (by Kazuhiko Matsuo).pdf, page 7
  22. http://www.celluloidhouse.com/salon35.htm (Wayback Machine: 2019-05-31 09:26)
  23. 23.0 23.1 File:Celluloid Library Memoir House of Yokohama; Conference Osaka 2008.pdf, page 21
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