E.T.C.

Eiichiro Tomiyama founded Tomiyama Toy Seisakusho in Tokyo on 2 February 1924. The company’s first products included a clockwork racing car and the AEROPLANE BREGUET, made from aluminum; its toy airplanes led to the “Aero Plane TOMIYAMA” reputation. Tomiyama adopted assembly-line production and established a toy research department. During the 1930s, the LOOPING PLANE became a major product. As wartime controls prohibited metal toys, the company turned to wood and bamboo and used the E.T.CO. mark, formed from Tomiyama’s initials. Toy production stopped during the final wartime years. After the war, material shortages led to toys made from discarded cans, including the small BABY RACERCAR. The B-29 friction toy became a postwar hit in Japan and overseas. The business was reorganized as Sanyo Kogyo Co., Ltd. in January 1953 and established the Tomiyama Shoji sales company in 1959. As materials and mechanisms changed, Tomiyama moved from metal and friction toys toward plastic and electric products, including the successful all-plastic Sky Ping-Pong. In 1989, Tomy Kogyo absorbed Tomy Co. and adopted the Tomy name. Takara and Tomy merged in 2006 to form TOMY Company, Ltd., known as TAKARATOMY in Japan.