Bonsai figurines are usually ceramic because the metal would rust in a damp environment. I know that these seem delicate by our standards for toys, but my horse is also very tiny and delicate. Nothing like what we would call a toy today. I'll post a photo. Even smaller than the figures above. Nowadays they don't produce tiny delicate things for children because of choking hazards, but back in the day portable toys that could be carried in a girl's pocket were popular, especially when families were on the move, such as "Frozen Charlottes" in pioneer days, when the only toy a girl could take from home, was a tiny doll she could carry in her pocket. It would not surprise me at all, in war-torn occupied Japan, with displaced families, if tiny, portable, affordable toys would have been popular. I'm making suppositions here but, it would make sense for the times.
