I got to live in Okinawa from 1987 to 1990. The local USO had a selection of Japan toys, and I would discover more in a local hobby shop that had three entire rows of zoids and model kits. Sadly I would not be old enough to understand just what all I was missing out on until these last few years. Japanese toys typically did not care for making things kid safe, usually marking things with spring loaded rockets on the box 'Do not fire at eyes' with a safety smiley picture frowning with something stuck in its eye.
All the neighborhood kids had sentai-team toys. An arm thing that made sounds and spouted Japanese phrases, toy laser guns with awfully pointy plastic bayonet, and various other toys that eventually lead to somebody spilling a drop or two of blood.
And yet there was a steady influx of good American toys. Construx, legos, fabulous GI-Joe items prominently displayed in the very front of the toy section at the BX at Kadena AFB. Looking back on GI-Joe again, I am surprised they didn't make some kind of screaming-eagle bomber that had the American flag emblem on all the missiles and bombs.
What were the best toys? Were they the ones that were almost as big as you? (Fortress Maximus anyone? No, shut up Roger.) Was it something particularly flashy? Or was it something where you came up with a way to have fun with it that had nothing to do with what was intended? (See Bal, above.)