Children Span Cultures, Miles With Little Dolls, Big Smiles

Japanese and American schoolchildren exchanged stuffed dolls Tuesday in a revival of an international friendship ritual begun by a U.S. missionary nearly 60 years ago.

The exchange, staged in an Old West setting on the grounds of an estate overlooking the Pacific Ocean, was one of several scheduled in the Los Angeles area and in five other major U.S. cities.

Several hundred guests of Michael and Astrid Blaker observed the Peninsula ceremony in front of the “Silver Spur Saloon,” one of the props furnished by a caterer for the occasion. Representatives of 73 Japanese children, dressed in gray school uniforms, advanced shyly to offer their gifts to their American counterparts.

In return, eight hastily drafted and equally shy Peninsula children handed over their American-made dolls.

“A child’s friendly smile can melt away the barriers of language and race,” said Blaker, quoting from a tag attached to the dolls.

“It’s a real nice present,” said 10-year-old Marnie Schreiner of Rancho Palos Verdes, clutching a kimono-clad doll. Sponsors of the event later explained that all of the dolls are intended for exhibition in local schools and other institutions.

Blaker is the executive director of the Japan America Society of Southern California, an association of business and cultural groups that is sponsoring the Japanese children’s tour in this country.

His wife is president of Kamar International, a Torrance-based manufacturer of dolls that donated the U.S. dolls given to the visitors from Japan.

According to the sponsors, the first doll exchange was launched by missionary Sidney L. Gulick in 1927, after he returned from a tour of duty in Japan and encountered anti-Japanese feelings in this country. The sentiment stemmed from Japan’s early moves to become the dominant military and economic power in the Far East.

Gulick’s nationwide campaign to improve relations between the two countries produced more than 12,000 dolls, described by the sponsors as blue-eyed. The collection was shipped to Japan for distribution in schools there, and in return, Japanese organizations sent back 58 dolls for exhibition in U.S. schools and other institutions.

The hostile feelings of World War II prompted Japanese authorities to order the destruction of the American dolls. In this country, all but one of the 58 Japanese dolls disappeared from public exhibits.

Last year, sponsors of the exchange said, a visiting Japanese official spotted the bedraggled sole surviving doll--named “Miss Kyoto” after the city in which it was made--in the Boston Children’s Museum.

He arranged to have it returned to Kyoto for restoration, and that led to the current mission organized by various Japanese civic and business groups, the sponsors said.

In reviving memories of the 1927 exchange, “we believe we are adding to the good will and friendship that exists between our two countries today,” said Takao Sudo, a representative of the Japan Junior Chamber of Commerce who attended the Peninsula doll exchange.

Other exchanges in the Los Angeles area were planned this week at Disneyland, Universal Studios, Mayor Tom Bradley’s office and the county Children’s Museum.