Modelguns were developed after the Second World War due to tight restrictions on firearm ownership by civilians in Japan. As a result, toy guns became popular to many Japanese gun enthusiast. The early toy guns were imported cap guns (mainly Mattel, Hubley and Nichols) from the United States from late 1950s. Some of the agencies or shops notably Japan Model Gun Collection Association (later MGC), Nakata store, Ehara store (later Tokyo CMC), International Gun Club (later International Industry (Kokusai)) importing or retailing the cap guns later transformed to key modelgun makers and played a key role in modelgun history. These cap guns were fairly crude approximations of actual firearms and with very few operational features. Strictly speaking they are not classified as modelguns as their design / markings and even size is very different from the real counterparts. Nevertheless, these imported cap guns formed foundation for subsequent modelgun development and set good insight for forthcoming modelgun design in Japan.