Opinion Tamagotchi Follies By SCOTT T. HARDS	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
たまごっち狂奏曲 ゲーム「たまごっち」の人気は半年以上続いている。しかし、いまだに国内の玩具店などで個人が入手することは難しく、企業や卸売り業者が何倍もの値段で買い取っているという。こうした「闇市状態」は、何かがおかしい…。

Bandai Co.'s virtual pet toy, Tamagotchi, has become a huge fad. This is not news. The craze has been going on for nearly six months now. But there are some funny things about this phenomenon, particularly in the area of product supply, that are really starting to puzzle me.

Back in February, Bandai took the unusual step of placing advertisements in the newspaper to apologize for the short supply of the toys and promising that there would be plenty by April. Well, April has come and gone. It's now July, and all the toy stores in my neighborhood still have those "Tamagotchi Sold Out" signs taped up near the cash register or entrance to the store. I personally know only three people who even own a Tamagotchi, and they all got theirs through special connections, like from someone related to the toy industry, not by picking it up at a regular toy store.

So Tamagotchi are still in very, very short supply in Japan. But this is where things get strange. If Bandai cannot even meet demand at home, why are we now seeing reports about Tamagotchi going on sale overseas? And why does there seem to be no shortage of Tamagotchi being given away as special prizes or in promotions?

Many pachinko parlors are advertising that you can win a Tamagotchi from them. And portable phone companies and gasoline stations are also promoting Tamagotchi presents if you buy their latest phone, or sign up for a credit card, or whatever. Where did they get this stock if regular toy stores, who specialize in that kind of merchandise, cannot get any?

The fact is, a kind of black market in Tamagotchi has developed, where distributors and other companies are willing to pay several times the ¥1,980 retail price of the toys in order to get their supply, preventing stocks from reaching regular retail stores. This isn't surprising, as many individuals are also reported to be selling Tamagotchi for prices sometimes as high as¥30,000 or ¥50,000

High prices themselves are not a problem since Japan is a free, capitalist market and people are allowed to buy and sell goods at whatever price they agree on. What becomes clear from this, however, is that Bandai made a huge mistake and badly underestimated the true value of a Tamagotchi when setting that　¥1,980 price.

The victims of this situation are ultimately the local retail toy stores. Consumers who want a Tamagotchi badly enough can usually find a way to get one. But small retail shops have been completely left out of the boom. Bandai should take steps to bring order to the market and either abolish the teika retail price altogether and go to "open" pricing system, or reset the retail price at a level that more accurately reflects the public's demand for those cute little virtual pets.

Shukan ST: July 4, 1997

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