That was probably a mistake on my part. I've compared the earliest SE (brown with the SE sticker) to my regular K1000s and it is obviously missing the "Japan" after Asahi Opt. Co., on the top plate and doesn't have the battery check bump either. The serial number is on the baseplate (no. 78299xx) and there is no sticker to indicate where it was made.

The other SEs I own are a brown with engraved SE and a made in Hong Kong sticker on the baseplate and a black with engraved SE and assembled in china baseplate.

Having said that; I looked at some of my other K1000s and there was one with the same set of features as the early Brown SE which has a short sticker on the bottom of which the only letters visible are AN, which could obviously be part of JAPAN but there is no room for "Made in" or anything else really. The serial on that (on the baseplate again) is 6288464.

Hi Paul,
I heard through the grapevine on here that you have a Japanese made K1000SE. Although I have studied many K1000SE's I have never come across a Japanese built body yet. As far as all my research goes all SE's were assembled in HK. Can you confirm if you have a Japan K1000SE?
Regards