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TOKYO - Faced with a declining birth rate and a rapidly aging population, Japan's toy makers have had to learn life's most sobering lesson: everyone must grow up.
The industry that put "Transformer" robots into toy chests around the world and made "Tamagotchi" virtual pets the scourge of teachers is now hoping for growing demand from adults.
"The declining birth rate is a serious problem for us," said Keita Sato, executive vice-president and chief marketing officer of toy maker Tomy at an industry forum in Tokyo on Tuesday.
While there were plenty of traditional toys on display at the event, much of the emphasis was on products aimed at older consumers.
Tomy is hoping that gadget-loving young men - known here as "otaku," or "nerds" - will embrace its new robot, the i-SOBOT.
Small enough to fit in a lunchbox, the 165-mm tall robot weighs in just 350 grams and is, according to Tomy, the world's smallest two-legged walking robot.
An updated version of the bulky "Omnibot" robots the company sold in the 1980s, the 2007 version can play drums, dance along with music, do press-ups and pick itself up when it falls.
With a price tag of about $260 here, Tomy is hoping to sell 50,000 i-SOBOTs in Japan and 250,000 more overseas.
The robots are the flagship product among a line of goods the company is marketing toward adults.
"We plan to strengthen our line-up of both basic toys for children and hobby items for adults," said Tomy's Sato.
Others include tiny radio-controlled airplanes that can land in small spaces, and a gadget that uses a laser to project a moving space landscape on a ceiling.
"In terms of pure toys, I think the outlook is pretty grim. But the definition of a toy is likely to gradually change. So the market will not necessarily shrink," said Yuta Sakurai, a research analyst who covers several gaming companies for Nomura Securities in Toyko.
Still, data from the Japan Toy Association shows that for now, the market here is slowly shrinking.
The market for toys, which does not include wildly popular video-game systems and software, was estimated at $5.7 billion in the year to March 2006, down nearly 5 per cent from four years earlier.
Konami is hoping to avert the trend by focusing on lifestyle products for single women in their 20s and 30s.
"In that sense, we are building a new market beyond toys," said Yoshiaki Komatsu, a director at Konami's toy and hobby division.
The company is using a line of colourful characters to sell everything from slippers and toothbrushes to CD holders and toilet-lid covers.
Konami hopes young Japanese women will continue to use the goods even after getting married, eventually introducing their children to the characters.
It is also pushing a line of decidedly odd party goods. One is a fuzzy hat that sports a roll of toilet paper at the crown. The wearer can offer friends toilet paper by simply bowing, Konami's Komatsu said.
"From here on, people in their 30s and 40s will be looking for goods to help them communicate."
- REUTERS
