 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 | ||||
Japanese schoolgirls driving the toy rev... Score on the field; rock the hous... Video game for next millennium ... Here's what you should ask Santa fo... New web site drives quick deals on wheel... Prune your backyard doodlings into shap... Bank from home and stay aliv... Mini notes break into the top of the mob... Rand's recovery cuts prices... |
Japanese schoolgirls driving the toy revolutionJUNKO Suzuki and her friends have a lot to answer for. If you have ever cursed the bleep of a Tamagotchi or sat perplexed by the latest gizmo that has "made in Japan" stamped all over it, you can blame the likes of 17-year-old Junko. Unlikely as it may seem to our "toys for boys" mentality, Tokyo schoolgirls such as Junko are Japan's arbiters of gadgetry. Companies such as Sony bow down to them to get the latest fad started. If they like it, so will the world. Before the likes of the Tamagotchi (an electronic "pet") and sophisticated gadgets like the new mini diskmans get the green light, the marketing men consult their schoolgirl gurus. Given that the twin gods of the Japanese teenage girl are cuteness and fun, this has led to an array of faddish electronics - eye-catching, bizarre, but ultimately vacant. With white socks starched to look like boot tops and a penchant for dying their hair a brassy blonde, they make a striking contrast to their sober parents and male siblings. But their ability to spark product interest, their money and their insatiable appetite for the new ensures a special relationship with the gadget makers. "New is nothing new to the Japanese," explains Mark Dytham, a partner of Tokyo-based Klein Dytham Architecture. embrace new things. "New means progress, new is good. Classic items do not exist in Japan." This sense of impermanence has helped to build one of the most obsessively acquisitive societies in the world, with fittingly disposable articles to satisfy each whim. Concepts of play in Japan are very different to those in the West. Urbanisation means Japan has little flat land for children to play on. The crushing education system leaves little time for play. Ironically, for a nation we regard as workaholics, the development of more adult toys such as video games comes from a highly evolved sense of play. "Play is a very important aspect of both children's and adults' lives," says Hiroko Satoh, a Tokyo-based freelance graphic designer and video games enthusiast. "There's always a demand for new toys among children and adults. If it sells, everybody wants one because nobody likes to feel left out."
Indeed, this adoration of the childlike could be the reason Japan is so adept at designing playthings. It also explains why so many designs are unbearably saccharine. Small toys have always been a necessity to the Japanese because of their confined spaces. As Dytham says: "Your average Tokyo apartment is small so you don't have to spend much cash doing it up. And because it's small you tend to buy super-mini stereos. Small is cute, small is expensive and has status. Small is desirable. "People have high disposable incomes in Japan. Young singles live with parents, and not having a mortgage because you rent really helps. It means lots of spare cash for the next flatter, thinner screen." Mass production of Japanese toys in the '60s was made possible by new technology and materials: plastic, vinyl and other petrochemicals. These fuelled a toy boom until the oil shock of 1973, which hit Japan hard. Plastic toy manufacturers were forced to search for other toy ideas and they started to look at using microchips. The birth of chip-based toys finally led one Japanese designer to conceive the unlikely international hit, the Tamagotchi. Brainchild of Aki Maita of Bandai, the "lovable little egg" found 100 million doting owners worldwide. The 30-year-old joined the company because she failed to get a teaching post but still wanted to work with children. "My job was to analyse sales data, where I learnt that toys and games connected to rearing pets or animals were doing very well." The Tamagotchi was an instant hit with the schoolgirl fad queens and soon everyone wanted one. And while Japan becomes more adept at taking the pulse of its young consumers, the global village school quickly learns that yet another Japanese design is hot. What's "cute" in Japan today becomes "cool" in the West tomorrow. The dustbin takes care of the rest. - © The Telegraph, London
|