[Alan Brinton]

13,000 Yen is about $120 U.S., Paul.

It has been more difficult, in Japan, to avoid having the melodica thought of as merely a toy, because of the longstanding requirement that Japanese children own one and learn to play it in school. So it is associated with elementary education. Ironically, they use Japanese melodicas, especially the Yamaha P-32, not Chinese ones.

I agree with you that inexpensive melodicas don’t sound bad and make good beginner instruments. Almost all melodicas on the market today are reliable. In Asia, melodica innovation and quality construction have been almost exclusively Japanese. So far, the Chinese contribution has been to make copies for mass production. They also are now producing Hohner melodicas, since the Hohner company decided to place its emphasis on mass marketing. As to the quality of the new Hohners, opinions differ.