“Fads starting with young people, transcending generations”. That, in a nutshell, was how the Nikkei Marketing Journal (NMJ) explained the reason it picked smartphone game Pokémon GO and the hit animated film Kimi No Na Wa (Your Name) as its top two choices for 2016.
The thrice-weekly newspaper of the retail industry issued its Hitto Shohin Banzuke (List of Top Hit Products) on 7 December. Now in its 45th year, the list is distinctively Japanese in that it adopts a sumo-style hierarchical listing, or banzuke, using traditional calligraphy and even titles such as yokozuna (grand champion) and ozeki (champion) to rank the products.
Among the items on the NMJ’s 2016 list are:
- The city of Hiroshima (6th place), which was visited by US President Barack Obama and whose popular baseball team captured first place in the Central League.
- A boom in low-cost consumption (7th place), with ¥100 shops and other businesses that appeal to thrifty consumers thriving.
- Minpaku, or accommodation in private homes (9th place). Initially encouraged to alleviate the country’s hotel room shortage, thanks to Internet services such as Airbnb, it’s been booming, with more than 3 million guests reported in the first 10 months of 2016—double the number for the previous year.
Popular or controversial imports or items with a decidedly foreign slant were fewer than previously. They included the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, 3rd place; the Donald Trump phenomenon, 6th place; and Dyson’s premium Supersonic hair dryer, 10th place. Special mention was also given to Opdivo, the promising new cancer medication jointly developed in Japan and the US.
The NMJ predicts that the year ahead will mark the “starting gun” in terms of consumption in the lead up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. One aspect of this will be asureja (athleisure), the fashion trend in which such garments as yoga pants, tights and leggings that look like athletic wear are worn in other settings, such as at work or on social occasions.
The NMJ emphasises that its key criteria for picking a hit product or service were determined not merely on profitable performance, but also by taking into account innovative marketing and how a product influenced consumption patterns, for example through carving out of new demand that previously had not existed.
Nonetheless, the average consumer in Japan may devote more attention to reading about hits than actually purchasing them. In response to the question, “Did you buy one of this year’s hit products?”, out of 1,819 respondents to an online survey conducted by the Asahi Shimbun on 3 December, 66% replied in the negative, with their three main reasons for lack of interest being “Among them, there was nothing I wanted”; “They didn’t appeal to me”; and “I don’t like to be manipulated by information into buying something”.
Looking ahead at 2017, there’s talk that the introduction, starting on 24 February, of a “Premium Friday” system to extend weekends—by encouraging government offices and firms to give workers time off from noon on the last Friday of each month—may spur new consumption. During March, Japanese baseball fans are certain to watch the 4th World Baseball Classic—Japan won the first two and made the finals in the third.
Two leisure complexes are coming: IHI Stage Around Tokyo opens on 30 March in Toyosu, and Legoland Japan on 1 April in Nagoya. The Ginza Six complex, the largest shopping facility in its namesake district with 47,000m2 of floor space, will open on 20 April at the former site of the Ginza Matsuzakaya department store.
Sometime during the first half of the year, Universal Studios Japan in Osaka will open Minion Park based on the popular characters from the Despicable Me franchise, hailed as the “world’s largest Minion area”.
And from October, drivers will be able to apply for number plates with designs related to the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. In addition, pedestrians will have free reign over a 6,500m2 plaza, once construction on the Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station is completed, with bus and taxi stands moved to opposite ends of the building.