Vintage porcelain animals from Japan

I have encountered many strange and kitschy porcelain figurines at flea markets, figurines which are just not proportionally correct, have bad finishing or are just plain ugly. But something did catch my eye yesterday. It was a lovely collection of porcelain animals with the word Japan stamped on their belly. Following Word War 2, Japan was a prolific producer of porcelain figurines, from the era of Occupied Japan right up to the 70's. By then, most of the economy had diversified into higher-end electronics. The zebra, giraffe, lion and jaguar were very well made in terms of expression, proportion and finishing. I just had to bring it home, even though I hardly collect figurines.