Made in Occupied Japan
The item was exported from Japan during the Allied occupation after the Second World War. The occupation authorities ordered Japanese exports marked this way from February 1947.
How to read it
The occupation of Japan ran from 1945 to 1952, under General Douglas MacArthur as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP), according to the State Department’s Office of the Historian. Japan’s National Diet Library, answering a question on the mark’s legal basis, cites SCAP’s instruction SCAPIN 1535, “Marking of Export Articles”, of 20 February 1947, which ordered all exports marked “Made in Occupied Japan”. Exports then were mainly to the United States: the Mizuta Museum of Art at Josai International University lists ceramics, lacquerware, metalwork, toys and cameras, and describes the tableware as designed to please American consumers.
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This page says what a mark means under the rules that required it and when it was used. A mark helps date a piece; it doesn’t prove when or where any one piece was made.
How long the mark was required
Sources disagree. The National Diet Library’s answer cites a second instruction, SCAPIN 2061 of 5 December 1949, which cancelled SCAPIN 1535 and allowed any of three marks: “Made in Occupied Japan”, “Made in Japan” or “Japan”. The Mizuta Museum says exports had to be labelled “Made in Occupied Japan” from 1947, when civilian trade resumed, until 1952. The Texas Historical Commission says MacArthur ordered exports marked either “Made in Occupied Japan” or “Occupied Japan”, and gives the occupation as 1945 to 1952. The occupation ended under the peace treaty signed in San Francisco in September 1951, which came into force in 1952.
Before and after
Until 1921 Japanese exports to the US were often marked Nippon; from 1921 they were marked Japan.
Read next
- Next in Country of origin marks and label numbersNipponNippon is the Japanese name for Japan. On porcelain and other goods it is the country of origin mark Japanese exporters used for the US market until 1921.
- The same shape in AI labels and iconsAI iconAI-generated or AI-changed content. A badge with the letters AI, often in a circle or beside a word such as generated or modified, labels an image, video, sound or text as made or altered with artificial intelligence. The European Union publishes an official set of these icons.
More country of origin marks and label numbers
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with letters and numbers or circles.
Sources
- National Diet Library, Collaborative Reference Database: legal basis of “Made in Occupied Japan”, Collaborative Reference Database (レファレンス協同データベース), entry 1000243990, answered by Osaka Municipal Central Library, National Diet Library (Japan), Answer (回答)
- Mizuta Museum of Art: Made in Occupied Japan 2, Western tableware that has traveled overseas, Mizuta Museum of Art, Josai International University, exhibition page (English), Mizuta Museum of Art, Josai International University, Exhibition text
- Texas Historical Commission: A Bit of the East in East Texas (Japanese artifacts at the Rayburn House), Margo McCutcheon, Sam Rayburn House State Historic Site, Texas Historical Commission blog, Texas Historical Commission, Blog post, paragraph on dating
- Office of the Historian: Occupation and Reconstruction of Japan, 1945–52, U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, Milestones: 1945–1952, “Occupation and Reconstruction of Japan, 1945–52”, U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, Article text
Last reviewed October 8, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research
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