Last night, Toyota Motor Philippines celebrated its 24th anniversary by hosting a simple thanksgiving party for the press. At the event, TMP handed out a special token to its media guests: a 1:24 Tamiya Toyota 86 plastic model kit.

We all know Tamiya. At one point, it became so popular in the country that even otherwise jaded adults could be seen taking up the hobby. But who here is even aware that more than half of Tamiya's products distributed for global sales are actually manufactured in the Philippines? This was pointed out to us last night by TMP vice president Jing Atienza.

We checked the packaging, and indeed it says the Tamiya 86 is "made in Philippines." The interesting part? Atienza said their supplier had to order the bulk of the 86 model kits from Tamiya in Japan. In other words, the toys traveled from Cebu to Japan and then back to the Philippines. Atienza said they couldn't order the stuff directly from Tamiya's manufacturing facility here.

A quick visit to Tamiya's official website reveals that Tamiya Philippines was established in September 1994, and is based at Mactan Airbase in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu.

For a change, a world-class product has the Philippines for its provenance. Salute!