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たまごっちは欧米でどれだけ受けるか
電車の中やレストランで必死にたまごっちを世話する学生や社会人を見かけるが、このゲームが、欧米でも発売されることになった(アメリカでは7月発売の予定)。日本の文化や環境に合ったこのゲームが、欧米でも受けるのだろうか。
【お知らせ】ロビンソンさんのコラムは筆者の都合により今回が最終回となります。次回からの筆者は、コラムニストのジョン・ギャスライトさんです。
After months of seeing Japanese schoolgirls and boys, well-dressed young office workers and even tough-looking youths feverishly tending their computer pets in the subway, walking along the street and in restaurants, I can only say: I doubt it
Of course, we cynics may well be proven wrong. There were people who said the hula hoop and the yo-yo would never take off. Indeed, computer games as a whole have immense universal appeal. But somehow, the concept of Ta-
magotchi, a computer-generated pet that sickens and dies within days if not tended correctly and constantly, seems to cater to some special characteristics of Japanese society.
Consider the low rate of pet ownership in Japan, the lowest among advanced industrialized countries. This is due both to cultural and practical factors: domestic pets have never been particularly popular in a society where dwellings were, traditionally, delicate structures and gardens were careful arrangements of beautifully tended plants and pathways
In modern times, the cramped nature of urban living has reinforced widespread prohibitions against keeping pets. It was interesting to watch the success some years ago of other types of virtual pets in Japan: battery-operated birds that sat on perches and sang and mechanical fish that swum jerkily around little aquariums. More recently, "rent-a-pet" businesses have flourished.
What does all this mean? Perhaps it indicates a yearning in Japanese society for some kind of dependency relationship, but with a fantasy dependent that is, after all, artificial. If Tamagotchi is well cared for, it's cute enough to make you smile. If it falls ill, or even dies, the owner experiences all the emotions of sadness and remorse, but in a safe and limited way. It's only a computer-generated image anyway.
It seems unlikely that these fantasy pets will have the same powerful appeal in Western countries, where many children grow up with real pets and would prefer to play computer games that are more challenging than Tamagotchi's demand for daily, repetitive routines. But then, who knows? Maybe Tamagotchi will take the world by storm. By then, other computer game companies will have launched the next generation of pseudo-pets in Japan.
Foreign correspondents who have reported on Japan's recent craze for "Tamagotchi," the phenomenally successful virtual pet, will watch the forthcoming debut of Tamagotchi in overseas markets with great interest. Will Americans and Europeans embrace the little pseudo-bird with the same whimsical intensity evident among Tamagotchi lovers in Japan?
After months of seeing Japanese schoolgirls and boys, well-dressed young office workers and even tough-looking youths feverishly tending their computer pets in the subway, walking along the street and in restaurants, I can only say: I doubt it
Of course, we cynics may well be proven wrong. There were people who said the hula hoop and the yo-yo would never take off. Indeed, computer games as a whole have immense universal appeal. But somehow, the concept of Ta-
magotchi, a computer-generated pet that sickens and dies within days if not tended correctly and constantly, seems to cater to some special characteristics of Japanese society.
Consider the low rate of pet ownership in Japan, the lowest among advanced industrialized countries. This is due both to cultural and practical factors: domestic pets have never been particularly popular in a society where dwellings were, traditionally, delicate structures and gardens were careful arrangements of beautifully tended plants and pathways
In modern times, the cramped nature of urban living has reinforced widespread prohibitions against keeping pets. It was interesting to watch the success some years ago of other types of virtual pets in Japan: battery-operated birds that sat on perches and sang and mechanical fish that swum jerkily around little aquariums. More recently, "rent-a-pet" businesses have flourished.
What does all this mean? Perhaps it indicates a yearning in Japanese society for some kind of dependency relationship, but with a fantasy dependent that is, after all, artificial. If Tamagotchi is well cared for, it's cute enough to make you smile. If it falls ill, or even dies, the owner experiences all the emotions of sadness and remorse, but in a safe and limited way. It's only a computer-generated image anyway.
It seems unlikely that these fantasy pets will have the same powerful appeal in Western countries, where many children grow up with real pets and would prefer to play computer games that are more challenging than Tamagotchi's demand for daily, repetitive routines. But then, who knows? Maybe Tamagotchi will take the world by storm. By then, other computer game companies will have launched the next generation of pseudo-pets in Japan.
Shukan ST: May 2, 1997
(C) All rights reserved
- craze
- 大流行
- How far will it go?
- どこまで広がるか?
- Foreign correspondents
- 外国のマスコミの(日本)特派員
- phenomenally successful
- 驚異的にヒットしている
- virtual pet
- 仮想ペット
- will watch 〜 with great interest
- 大変興味深く 〜 を見守るだろう
- forthcoming debut of 〜
- 来たる 〜 の発売
- embrace 〜 with 〜
- 〜 を 〜 とともに受け入れる
- pseudo-bird
- 鳥まがいの存在
- whimsical intensity
- 気まぐれな気持ちで夢中になること
- 〜 evident among 〜
- 〜 の間で明らかにみうけられる 〜
- well-dressed
- 身なりのきちんとした
- tough-looking youths
- こわもての若者
- feverishly tending 〜
- 必死に 〜 を世話している
- cynics
- 皮肉屋
- may well be proven wrong
- 間違っているかもしれない
- hula hoop
- フラフープ
- would never take off
- よく売れることは絶対ないだろう
- have immense universal appeal
- 世界中にアピールする強烈な魅力がある
- computer-generated
- コンピューターが作り出した
- sickens
- 病気になる
- cater to 〜
- 〜 を満足させる
- special characteristics
- 特性
- low rate of pet ownership
- ペット所有率の低さ
- is due both to cultural and practical factors
- 文化的な要因と実際的な要因の両方のせいである
- domestic
- 飼い慣らされた
- dwellings
- 住居
- delicate structures
- 堅固でない構造
- pathways
- 小道
- cramped nature of urban living living
- 都会の住宅の窮屈さ
- has reinforced
- さらに強めている
- widespread prohibitions against 〜
- 〜 を禁止する風潮
- battery-operated
- 電池式の
- perches
- とまり木
- mechanical
- 機械じかけの
- swum jerkily around 〜
- 〜 の中をぴくぴくと動きながら泳いだ
- aquariums
- 水槽
- "rent-a-pet"businesses
- 動物を短期間貸し出す「レンタルペット」商売
- have flourished
- 繁盛している
- indicates
- 表す
- yearning(for 〜 )
- 〜 を求める気持ち
- dependency relationship
- 依存関係
- fantasy
- 虚構の
- dependent
- 面倒を見てもらう存在
- artificial
- 人工の
- is well cared for
- 世話がいきとどいている
- falls ill
- 病気になる
- remorse
- 後悔
- repetitive routines
- くりかえしの決まりきった作業
- But then, who knows?
- しかし、(それは)誰にもわからない
- will take the world by storm
- たちまち世界を魅了するかもしれない
- will have launched
- 着手しているだろう