I have a large collection of Japanese Strats and have never seen one of these before. Although logo has been removed up I can just make out Taro. Taro was a badged Mark for MIJ guitars imported to Canada. It has a pancake ash construction, I have seen this construction on CMI and Greco L6 copies and CMI logo custom teles. However I don't know manufacturer? Interestingly CMI block logo and script logo strats don't have this construction.All original as far as I can tell, pretty sure it is early 70's as it has 3 way selector and Gibson style end nut.
Standard MIJ tuners, STC full block tremolo, steel plate pickups similar to those on early 70's Fujigen and Moridaira strats.
Electrics all work, neck straight and very playable , minimal fret wear, decent action and intonation.
Front and back of body clean, some laquer chips on edges but these don't really show up on natural finish guitars.
I guess it's rare and collectible, certainly not mint but clean and playable. Can't devalue if looked after.
I have had a few messages from ebayer watchers suggesting this is a Daion. Having done some research and taking into account observations from a Daion group member I don't think this is correct.
The mystery continues ! A prime candidate for Drowning In Guitars name game.