Stratocasters made in Japan

Fender Japan

In the early '80s a new problem that Fender had to deal with emerged: the rise of the made in Japan guitars, caused by dollar increase against yen and by the quality of the instruments realized in Japan, which made those Americans uncompetitive. These guitars very often literally copied Stratocasters and at the same time they cost less. Since it was difficult to protect Fender design from foreign competition, in 1982 Schultz decided to produce authentic Fender Stratocasters in Japan, in order to compete with the non-original copies.
After a meeting with the distributors Kanda Shokai e Yamano Music, the Fender Japan co. Ltd. was officially presented at the Grand Palace Hotel, Kudanshita, Tokyo, on 11 March 1982. The design and components of the Stratocasters would have been pertinent to Fender/CBS, while the distribution on the Japanese market would have been managed by Kanda Shokai and by Yamano Music, which would also have dealt with the importation into Japan of the instruments made in U.S.A. The guitars would have been realized by FujiGen Gakki (which was in the running with the Tokai), in Matsumoto, about 200 km north of Tokyo, also known due to the production of the Ibanez and Antoria, and because it manufactured the Greco for Kanda.
It was a blow to all copies made in Japan. Also Tokai, which produced excellent replicas of the Fenders, suffered from the new MIJ guitars, as Paul Colbert, the first journalist to review the new instruments, reported: «Tokai are as detailed in their replicas but, psychological or not, having that Fender logo at the top of the headstock puts heritage in your hands, even if given an Eastern interpretation».
The birth of Fender Japan was a huge success for the Corona company; however, at first, many American workers didn’t take the news well due to old dislikes that went back to the Second World War. It wasn’t a coincidence, in fact, that the first advertisement of the guitars made in Japan recited: «An international team of guitar designers and craftsman gave these new Squier guitars the same light touch and brilliant tone that made the originals the world's most sought-after electric guitars»; no instruction about the place in which the guitars were built was given.

The principals present at the the press conference at the Grand Palace Hotel were Schultz, Smith and Balmer from Fender; Chiroshi Kojima, president of Kanda; and Masamitsu Yamano, president of Yamano Music (courtesy of 21.frets.com)

La Dyna Gakki (Courtesy of Ikebe)

From the second half of the 1990s Fender began gradually shifting Japanese production from Fujigen, which produced Fender until 1997, to Tokai Gakki and Dyna Gakki, former Greco’s manufacturer, and this would explain the modification of the “Made in Japan” decal to "Crafted in Japan", typical of the new factories and which remained on Japanese guitars for a few years.
In 2005, the Fender-Japan joint venture was dissolved and the new Dyna Boeky took its place, while the Japanese distributors remained the same: Kanda Shokai and Yamano. In 2015 Fender took direct control of the distribution of the instruments manufactured in Japan and, at the same time, the Japan Exclusive Series was presented.
In 2017 the master builder Chris Fleming was invited in Japan to monitor the production of the new Made in Japan Traditional Series born on September 13, 2017 to commemorate the thirty-five years of Fender Japan.
If we review the whole made in Japan, we can note a highs and lows production: guitars known for the quality of the woods used and so well built to become myth and legend for some (but too overvalued for others) were joined by others whose components were low-budget. Certainly the guitars made in Japan have supported Fender in the first difficult years of post CBS, when the American factory wasn’t still able to meet the needs of the world market. But what has happened next? Is it possible that the opening of the Ensenada factory, so close to Corona, has led Fender to believe less in the MIJ, since they were on the same price range as the Mexican guitars?