Update!

(15 August) The database should now be fixed, so there are no more stray funny characters... but there may still be glitches. I just discovered that all of the Peanuts puzzles had disappeared, because "artist=peanuts" was not matching "Peanuts"; so there is more to do in sorting out case-insensitive matching.

Database problem!

Apologies! A recent database upgrade has left lots of Japanese text corrupted, and also some variant characters, such as the e-acute in "Pokémon," not showing correctly. I am working to correct this but may take some days...

申し訳ありません 現在、データーベースの問題でほとんどのパズルの詳細などの日本語が文字化けになっています。修復するまで何日かかかるかも知れません。ご了承ください。

Jigsaw puzzle manufacturers

Apollo

On this page: Box contents - Apollo website

Apollo is a long-established manufacturer of puzzles and educational toys, founded in 1924, and the name is sometimes written as Apollo-sha - the appended "-sha" just means "company". In 2011, Apollo became a subsidiary of Epoch, and for a while the brands were kept separate, but as of 2017, the jigsaw puzzle division is now entirely Epoch-branded. For the time being we will still have puzzles with Apollo codes (starting with 'P'), but essentially these are Epoch puzzles: see the page about the Epoch website for more details. Apollo continues to produce other toy items, including children's puzzles, shown on the website below.

If you have a piece missing from an Apollo puzzle, we may be able to help.
A little more history on the manufacturers page.

Box contents

In days gone by you opened a jigsaw puzzle box, and inside were just the pieces! But Japanese puzzles come with various extra bits and pieces. The assumption is that you will only do the puzzle once, then glue it together for wall mounting, to impress your friends.

1 Pieces: bag includes (green) voucher towards a free puzzle, and card for a replacement piece if you lose one. Please keep this until you have done the puzzle.

2 Bag containing sachet of puzzle glue and spreader

3 Instruction leaflet

Doing the puzzle

Ignore the strict instructions to do the edge pieces first: put the bits together in any order you like. If you want to display the puzzle, you can use the glue to stick it together. Spread a sheet of clean but unwanted paper under the completed puzzle, with the puzzle the right way up. Then pour the glue over the front of the puzzle: spread it out with the spreader, so all the joints get neatly filled with glue. It should dry with a nice glossy finish.

Disclaimer: I have very limited experience of gluing puzzles - I usually break them up to do again some day. But I have had some success with trompe l'oeil murals!

Please note: Actual box contents may vary. If you find any discrepancies, please let us know.

Website

Main puzzle links on the Apollo website now redirect to Epoch, but other Apollo products, including children's puzzles and block puzzles remain on the website here: http://www.apollo-sha.co.jp/

There is a large range of Educational toys: here is a list of the main links - you will need to experiment with clicking the coloured links at the bottom of the second level pages (which are all images, so machine translation services are no help, unfortunately). Please ask if you are looking for specific children's puzzles, for example for learning hiragana or katakana.

Panorama puzzles (three-panel simple puzzles) - Children's puzzles (click the piece counts, from 10 to 63)

(Updated May 2017)

Please note: Manufacturers tend to rearrange their websites from time to time, so I cannot guarantee that the above links will work. Please let me know if you find them broken.