Lots of GIs brought back bamboo rods from Japan, and they were in boxwood boxes. They came with a few flies and a couple of bobbers. You see them occasionally advertised on ebay. The boxes were made by hand and were nicer than the rods, some pretty good artwork on them.
I had a 9' bamboo rod as a kid myself. It was Japanese made, cheap, not in a box but from a hardware store. It was pretty bad, very heavy.
