I've had MIJ's with rods with NO plating-raw metal.Seems like nickel is very possible/probable.

i must have owned and sold countless mij kits and i can only remember seeing that twice , and here's the kicker the two kits did not have any badges on them due to bad re-wrap and one with the worst stain job i ever seen . at first i tought they were from a usa kit but the treads were still mij . so yup there's some out there and how much is out there ?

I have seen a few M.I.J. drums with the nickle T-rods on them.Not to many maybe out of every 200 sets maybe one would have them..Even have seened nickle claws on the bass drum along with all the other parts that should be in chrome...But also i have seened sets with a silver paint look or un-finish parts too .Mybe one out of every 100 sets or so...Mikey

Any opinions on why the Japanese would only install these nickel or un-plated rods, claws, etc. on some sets/drums? Was it a QC issue or do you think it was purposely done?

Cheers

It was all cost-cutting measures. Steel requires triple-plating for chrome. It's first plated with copper, which provides the best surface for nickel to plate to, which in turn, provides the best possible surface for chrome to plate to, so you CAN stop at nickel with no problems. The only issue with nickel over chrome is that it is prone to surface oxidation, but it looks cool as it ages.