What costs about $20, weighs just a few ounces, fits in the palm of your hand, keeps you busy all day long, rewards you if you are good, and punishes you if you are bad? Give up? Well, come May you just might find out! Don't want to wait that long. Ok, I'll tell you. It's a small video game attached to a keychain called, "Tamagoch!" Its the latest craze to hit Japan.
The little games were first sold in November 1996. In the blink of an eye 750,000 were out the door. Bandai Corporation (which recently merged with Sega) can't produce the games fast enough to keep up with demand. Or, at least that is what they say. Whatever the reason, the little games are nearly immpossible to find in any stores. They sell out as soon as they are put on display. Not surprisingly, black markets have popped up. The games can go for more than ten times their origingal price. "White" Tamagoches, the most popular color, can sell for upwards of $300! Recently on TV, I saw a news expose program all about the Tamagotch phenomenon. There were interviews of high school girls who said that guys try to pick them up for dates by offering to let them borrow their Tamagotch game.
What's going on? You may be wondering why this game is so popular. Frankly, I don't know. It seems to me to be little more than annoying. Here is what a newspaper article says about it. "(Tamagotch) is an electronic pet that owners feed and discipline on a small liquid crystal screen by pressing bottons. The pet emits an electronic peep when it's hungry and needs its owner's attention." Doesn't sound like much fun to me. Supposedly if you do a good job rasing the "pet" it will grow up nice and strong. However, if you aren't a good parent, it will grow up into a middle-aged, heavy smoking, overweight, annoying, grumpy old man!
I can't really see this thing selling well in the states, but I've been wrong often in the past. Take for example, the "Power Rangers." Three years ago, when I was living in Japan I saw these costumed superheros on TV fighting aliens and thought, "No way this would fly in the US." Next thing I knew, the Power Rangers became the biggest fad to hit the states since the Cabbage Patch kids!
With multi-national corporations selling everything from petroleum to potato chips to computers, with the internet linking the entire world to your fingertips, with international airplane tickets cheaper every year, and with international exchanges sprouting up everywhere you look, this world we live in is getting smaller and smaller. Are we moving towards some sythesized worldwide culture? What does this means for the concept of the nation state? Will wars begin to recede as humanity recognizes its oneness across all races and cultures? Is this too much deep thinking over one small video game?!?
Tell me what you think. You can reach me at PO Box 367, or by e-mail at "danielh@grad.e.u-tokyo.ac.jp". Until next moth, peace be with you. -Daniel Heller