Inside U.K. U.K. Santas Look Forward To Relaxed Hunt for Presents By STEVE HILL	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
今年のＸマスの買い物は混雑しない？ 毎年 X マスの時期になると、おもちゃ売り場には長蛇の列ができ、人気のある商品は在庫が足りなくなるほどの売れ行きを見せます。しかし今年人気のポケモン関連のグッズは、種類が多いので在庫は大丈夫。また、そのほかにもさまざまな売れ筋があります

British parents are sleeping easy this year as Christmas approaches and the race to buy children the perfect present hits top gear.

In recent years, shopping malls and stores have been besieged in the last frantic days before Dec. 25, as mothers and fathers search out the latest fashionable toy or accessory.

Last year there was a desperate shortage of Furbies. In 1997 Teletubbies were so hard to find that queues quickly formed outside shops expecting a delivery while a black market sprang up and did a roaring trade. And in 1996 Buzz Lightyear was the elusive target of anxious parents.

A new phrase was also born — toy rage — to describe the actions of those who simply could not wait in line and take a chance on getting their hands on the toy their child must have. But that's all in the past because this year there will be no panic buying and no frantic searching by parents determined to make their child's dreams come true.

The British Association of Toy Retailers has compiled a list of the 10 most popular Christmas toys for 1999 and happily reports that all but one — a board game spinoff from a popular television quiz show — are freely available in shops.

Topping this interim chart, which measures a select list of members' sales up to the end of November, is Pokemon. It's the world's biggest computer game, and spinoffs include 150 characters that show up in a range of different toys. And that is one of the big secrets behind its success, according to Gerry Masters, a spokesman for the association.

He said: "The Pokemon range is so wide that if you cannot find one particular item in the shop then there's a good chance you will find another."

Also proving equally popular this year are Furby Babies, pastel-colored versions of Furby in miniature. They can say more words and phrases than the original Fur by and respond to light, touch, sound and motion, according to the manufacturers.

Figures of WWF wrestlers are in big demand, thanks to worldwide TV coverage, as are Alien Eggs and Beanies.

Interestingly, despite the fact that so many children have access to computers these days and are becoming increasingly sophisticated, simple plastic replicas of dinosaurs and dolls, which please both male and female tastes, continue to be popular.

"Children have not changed that much over the years," added Masters. "I just think they are getting brighter quicker. Barbie dolls used to be aimed at 6-year-old girls. Now they're targeted at 3-year-olds.

"It's the same with Action Men (male dolls). They used to be marketed at 6- to 7-year-olds, now it's 4-year-olds."

The Association of Toy Retail- ers is currently conducting a poll to find the most popular toys of the century. The results will be announced next month, but already Meccano construction sets, train sets and Action Men look set to figure thanks to strong sales across several generations.

One national British newspaper recently ran its own poll and concluded that the teddy bear was the most popular toy of the century. Anyone with an old teddy, in good condition, tucked away at the back of a wardrobe would be staggered to find that it could be worth thousands of pounds to collectors.

The same is true of other toys that were once popular but are now hard to find: first edition Barbie dolls, certain Beanie Babies or metal die-cast toy cars that are only 30 years old.

I only wish I had kept some of my old toys, many of which were thrown out years ago or passed on to other family members before heading, inevitably, for the garbage can. I can only guess at what some of them might be worth today.

Will the toys of 1999 become prized items for collectors in the future? Who knows; but one solution may be to buy two Pokemon or two of the latest Action Men, one for the children and one to go under the bed as an alternative investment to stocks and shares!

Whatever presents children receive on Dec. 25, one thing is certain, and that is that parents and brothers and sisters, too, will all be keen to try out for themselves the latest high-tech gadgets on the market.

Some of us may be getting on in age, but there's still a little part of us that wants to be a child for an hour or two on Christmas Day and have some fun.

Shukan ST: Dec. 17, 1999

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