Made in Japan

Q: I recently looked at a Koson print which had been stamped "Made in Japan" on the back of the print. Does anyone know whether this dates the print to the post-World War II period and if Watanabe stamped his later prints in this way? Or is this stamp an indication that the print is probably a more recent copy made for export by some other publisher? 
A: Around 1930, probably with the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act (not the equally famous McKinley Tariff Act, enacted in the 1880's or so), the U.S. began to require country-of-origin markings on imported goods. Hence the beginnings of "Made in Japan", including our then lowly woodblock prints. Prints not designated for export did not require this marking. We have seen many known valid early editions marked "Made in Japan" with either an ink stamp or a pasted-on paper tag (which can come off, perhaps explaining the high proportion of extant prewar prints lacking any apparent marking). 
More interesting to some is the period late 1945 to almost 1954, when the U.S. required "Made in Occupied Japan" markings. Equivalent wording was allowed in some cases, such as for space limitations, and it seems this loophole was stretched to include simply "Made in Japan", and sometimes even just "Japan". We have studied examples of all three, plus "Printed in Japan" and "printed by S. Watanabe Tokyo". 
So....if you see a print marked "Made in Japan", you're probably no better or worse off than if it was not there at all. You simply know that the print was designated for export to the U.S.

Bleaching

Print was bleached in a calcium carbonate and water solution to remove heavy toning.  Print lightened considerably, but some color fading resulted.