I can’t give you the precise history but I can give you my experience back in the 80s and early 90s.
When I was in HK in the mid 80s in primary school, kids taught each other basic origami (and teachers too – but I learn it mostly from friends at school, and family members). These basic origami did NOT include the lucky star, despite its simplicity. I learnt mostly traditional designs like the crane, flapping bird, fortune teller etc. When I left HK in 1988, there were still no lucky stars. But within a year or two, I was taught how to make these stars when a relative came to visit in Australia. He came with ready made packets of paper strips, which suggests that someone has not only discovered it, but commercialised it. Popular cultures in developed Asian countries generally all appear as fads, and they get very popular very quickly like wild fire, then disappear (or at least die right down in terms of popularity) pretty quickly as well. Japanese culture was really hot in HK and Taiwan (and possibly Singapore) back then. So it could have originated in Japan but my gut feel is that it came either from either Hong Kong or Taiwan (and not mainland China, which was still just starting its development journey).
