Naoharu Yamashina, who founded the Bandai Company in 1950, died last Tuesday in Japan. He was 79 and died after an illness that had kept him hospitalized since June. Yamashina started selling toys in Tokyo in 1947. The then-named Bandaiya Company's first product was a beach ball with a bell inside. Currently, the company is riding the phenomenal wave of sales (and revenues) of its Tamagotchi key chain, which has sold 21 million units worldwide.