Japan’s US$7.4 billion toy market booms regardless of low delivery fee as adults get playful

The market within the 2024 monetary 12 months grew 7.9 per cent from a 12 months earlier to a document 1.1 trillion yen (US$7.4 billion), led by buying and selling playing cards and character merchandise, increasing 36 per cent from 10 years in the past, in keeping with the Japan Toy Association.

Other toys that noticed notable gross sales progress had been hi-tech toys resembling “Original Tamagotchi”, a small egg-shaped online game, and stuffed animals which might be in style amongst adults in Japan in addition to international vacationers, the affiliation stated.

“The conventional image of toys being for kids has started to change, as they became a hobby for adults and a means of self-expression among them in recent years,” stated Satsuki Kimura, an economist from the Meiji Yasuda Research Institute, in a latest report.

Supporting the view, spending for toys expanded significantly amongst single-person households with out a baby, with the common expenditure in 2024 leaping by round 3.5-fold to 14,498 yen from 2014, in keeping with the analysis agency’s evaluation of presidency information.

The determine surpassed the common 12,367 yen spent by multi-person households, together with these with not less than one baby, it stated.