Tag Archives: japanese american national museum

Kaiju vs Heroes Japanese American National Museum show 2018

This AWESOME image by the extraordinary Photographer Brian McCarty will be the signature image for the upcoming “Kaiju vs Heroes: Mark Nagata’s Journey through the World of Japanese Toys ” exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. 

Here’s what Brian said about the image he took :

Shot for the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, the photo celebrates the upcoming exhibition “Kaiju vs Heroes,” featuring Mark Nagata’s unrivalled collection of vintage Japanese toys. Born out of the cultural ashes of World War II, these distinctive soft vinyl figures became both a means for Japanese Americans to reconnect with their culture and an apt metaphor for postwar relations between the United States and Japan.

The exhibit opens on September 15th, 2018 and will run for about 6 months into 2019. We have various events etc planned so stay tuned for more info on the exhibit in the coming months.

 

By the way, if you don’t already know, please check out the important work Brian is doing for his War Toys project – https://wartoysproject.com/

You know I just make these silly toy collectibles …but, out in the real world people like Brian are actually making a difference for these kids caught in very tragic conditions.

 

Happy Holidays from Max Toy Company 2017

Thank you Everyone for your kind words and support of Max Toy Company ! As we enter our Lucky 13th year, 2018 is already booked ;-P Look for new toy projects, conventions and in September 2018 at the Japanese American National Museum, Kaiju vs Heroes – Mark Nagata’s Journey through the World of Japanese Toys (!) I’m co-curating the show with Maria Kwong ( http://www.latdamuseum.org/ ) More info coming in the new year so stay tuned and see you there !

Max Toy Table TE17 Dcon Preview

Well decide to dump all the images here  😉 Max Toy Dcon stuffs, see us at Table TE17 !!!
 
Max Toys at Dcon 2017
Hi Max Toy Fans !
Phew … ! I painted a mix of micro runs of our most popular figures, a few factory paints and of course one of a kind painted figures for Dcon.
I’m packed and ready to drive down to Dcon ! Excited to be setting up there at Table TE17 😉 Come say Hello to Max and Myself !
As many of you may know, I have not set up at the USA show in over 9 years !
Anyways, I’m bring all the above plus a ton of smaller one offs and some Max Toy stock. A good time to see the stuff up close and of course buy ;-P
Also have stuff from Jay222, Javier Jimenez and Doug Hardy. Doug will also be the booth both days, and selling his brand new resin, Witch Cat Lulu ! Very cute hand cast and painted figure so check her out !
By the way, everything is first come, first served .. but on the Tiger Boss / Office cats it’s one of each type per person, per order.
I will have a test shot of our newest figure, Sofubi-man on display as well !! My tribute to the men & women who cast these figures in Japan. This figure will release very soon, so stay tuned for more details.
Also, excited to be finally revealing publicly at Dcon, my Japanese toy collection / art show at the Japanese American National Museum in Sept 2018 !!
Titled; Kaiju vs Heroes – Mark Nagata’s Journey through the World of Japanese Toys
I’ve worked on this for over 2 years now and we are coming down to the final months before the opening. Much more info as we get closer and some cool stuff planned so stay tuned !
Thanks so much for the support !
Your Kaiju Pal,
Mark

Mark Nagata / Max Toy x Marusan TV

Had the pleasure and honor to be interviewed by Marusan President Eiji Kaminaga for his Marusan TV channel while in Tokyo a few days ago. Actually it feels like a week ago with my jet lag ;-P

It’s alway cool ( to me ) to hear history about the vintage Japanese toys I collect. Once the cameras stopped I kept asking more questions too !

Kaminaga-san was kind enough to give me a copy of his book about the history of Marusan toys. It’s all in Japanese, which I can not read ;-( I told him to do a version in English, haha … but he said it might be possible in the future.

To be honest, this mug, is like the best thing I got on this trip (!) It’s like being on the Kaiju Tonight Show !!

During this interview, I revealed something I’ve worked on for about two years now .. what is it ? You have to watch to find out !

Sanrio X Max Toy X EMP Museum

Well you’d better act fast, the newest Hello Kitty Kaiju is up for order via EMP museum’s web store !!!!!

http://shop.empmuseum.org/emp/en/Categories/Collectibles-%2B-Memorabilia/Hello-Kitty-Kaiju-Figure—EMP-EXCLUSIVE-COLOR/p/11849

Its exclusive to them, so no, I don’t have any to sell, sorry ! By the way, if you are in the Seattle area, the EMP museum is a very cool place to visit .. not to mention the Japanese American National Museum Hello Kitty exhibit now running there, but my personal favs are in the basement, tons of original Sci Fi and Horror props .. like the original Alien suit ;-O

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Good luck !

EMP Museum Seattle

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Well I suppose one should not under estimate the power of Hello Kitty Fans 😉 The newest entry in the Hello Kitty Kaiju line quickly sold out at the EMP museum store. I think I can say we are working on making more but a lot of the timing of when the next batch arrives will depend on our factory in Japan. Many thanks to Chris and the store staff as well they had a massive line all night.

Stay tuned for more info and thank you to those who were lucky enough to grab one !

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Seattle is of course a stunning city and the EMP museum is located right next to the majestic Space Needle. You can’t tell from this picture but it was pouring rain ;-P

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I didn’t take nearly enough pictures but the preview show was totally packed on all levels of the museum. The rain had no affect on the Fans !

By the way, when you go be sure and check out the basement, as it contains some super duper rare movie props from Sci Fi & Horror films … like original Star Wars light sabers and original Big Chap Alien costume (!)

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Seriously not fake … all Max and i could do was stare and drool  ;-P

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I drag Max along to all these shows as much as i can, and you can tell he’s thrilled to see this piece … yet again ! Well, Hello Kitty Kaiju is now owned by Sanrio so I suspect she will see much more of the World than I 😉

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The shows up thru May 2016, I highly recommend seeing it, and of course Seattle, too !

More info:  http://www.empmuseum.org

EMP museum Hello Kitty Kaiju

Well, the cat’s outta the bag ! … We are happy to show the exclusive Hello Kitty Kaiju figure only via EMP Museum in Seattle ( http://www.empmuseum.org ) ! Each is fully hand cast in soft vinyl ( sofubi ) and hand painted in Japan by Master craftsmen.

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The Hello Kitty Supercute exhibit travels from Japanese American National Museum to EMP museum with an opening party Friday night November 13th, 2015 ( I’ll be there 😉 ) and public opening on Saturday.

The figure will be available in their store ( but please check with them in terms of online sales etc ) It’s exclusive to EMP, so I will not have any to sell sorry to say.

Sanrio X Max Toy x EMP museum, with special thanks to JapanLA !! Meow !

Max Toy Updates FOE Hello Kitty Eyezon

Next week on Saturday, June 6th, 2015, I have this original painting (left side) in Bwana Spoon’s FOE gallery show. Check FOE for more details, lots of good stuff to be had !

http://foe-gallery.myshopify.com

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Just completed this insane Winged Kaiju Eyezon for a fan as well 😉

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And last but not least, the final Hello Kitty Kaiju figure is now on sale at the Japanese American National Museum (http://www.janm.org ) store. There was a limited release online but they are now sold out. However, you can buy one in person still but one per person. No phone orders or email saves, sorry to say. Its while supplies last and this being the last weekend of the Hello Kitty 40th Anniversary show, I don’t expect them to last too long. I wanted to take a moment to not only thank the Fans for buying this figure but to Sanrio, Jamie at JapanLA and to Maria Kwong at JANM for their help in making this possible. Many thanks to Makino-san for the perfect sculpt, to Shimizu-san in Tokyo for casting all the vinyl pieces, to the Maruyama Brothers for hand painting each one in Japan and to Yo-san the Man in Japan for coordinating all the production. In order to make one toy there are many people who do their part, so you can have something to collect. So the next time you look at one of our toys or even a toy from Target, just remember that there are humans and hard work behind them 😉

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