When were commercial tampons were first introduced in Japan?

According to my research, Tampons were first introduced in Japan in
1964 by Eisai Co. Ltd.

Sources of information:

The Japanese Wikipedia article  states that  Eisai Co., Ltd.  was the
first company to sell tampons in Japan  in the 1950.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%BF%E3%83%B3%E3%83%9D%E3%83%B3

Here is a  machine translated copy of this article

The originator of the tampon sale in Japan was the Eisai Co.,
Ltd.corporation of 1950 age. It reaches the point where the product of
American ?????? is imported in the sixties, chases after andthe ???
corporation starting production and sale.AlsoJohnson & Johnson
k.k.andlion other several corporations kept entering to this market.

After that, ??????in 2001withdraws completely from Japan, the lion
transferring tampon business section to the Uni Charm Corporation
in2002. Eisai Co., Ltd.at 2003October 31stproduction discontinuance.
Presently the Uni Charm Corporation has occupied the majority of
shares.

http://world.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=ja_en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fja.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F%25E3%2582%25BF%25E3%2583%25B3%25E3%2583%259D%25E3%2583%25B3

OR

http://tinyurl.com/y5zysr



The tampons produced by Elsai Co. Ltd  went by the name of  Cellopon or Selopon.

Here is a picture of the tampons. 

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.eisai.co.jp/products/end/cellopon.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=3&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DCELLOPON%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DGGLJ,GGLJ:2006-39,GGLJ:en


I search the Elsai Co. Ltd website and found out that Cellopon tampons
went into production in 1964.

1964   CELLOPON  starts in production. 
http://www.eisai-mc.co.jp/english/company/history.html


Production of this product Seropon (cellopon) ended in October 2003
Seropon medical equipment
Production of this item ended (with 2003 10 end of the month day)
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.eisai.co.jp/products/end/cellopon.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=3&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DCELLOPON%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DGGLJ,GGLJ:2006-39,GGLJ:en


In 1974 Unicharm Co. Ltd introduced their tampons in Japan
http://www.unicharm.co.jp/english/ir/06.html


Search terms.
Japan OR Japanese tampons first introduced OR launched 1950..1970

I hope the information provided is helpful!

Best regards, 
Bobbie7