Toy cars and robots for boys, and dolls for girls -- The sales strategy used by the toy industry to show clear distinction between products for boys and girls was so commonplace that most toys worked around this fixed idea.
However, a growing awareness for gender equality and changes in sharing roles between both sexes have made way for toys free from such preconceptions to increase. There is also the pragmatic aspect of dealing with the decrease in the number of children.
Osewa-ningyo, or baby dolls to care for, were once categorized as a girls' toy. Now there are such dolls marketed toward boys, too.
Bandai Co. released last July the "Horun Osewa Kihon Set" (Horen Basic Set), the first boy doll in the osewa-ningyo series coproduced with Disney. The doll is dressed in a cowboy outfit inspired by a lead character in an animated film series. Children can enjoy taking care of him by, for example, combing his hair and giving him a bath.
"Before, there was a time when some parents felt awkward about giving dolls to boys, but this way of thinking is fading," said Kumiko Yamamoto of Bandai's toy business section.
The Pilot Ink Co. has been selling a baby doll for boys since 2004. The product, Ao-kun, is a friend of Mell-chan, the copmany's popular baby doll for girls.
"As more and more fathers are taking part in child rearing, it's no longer surprising to see men caring for their babies. Boys, too, naturally develop interest in childcare play," said a Pilot Ink official.
There are also moves to persuade girls to venture into the fields traditionally regarded as boys' realms.
The pink Shinkansen bullet train designed with Hello Kitty, the character very popular among girls, is part of Takara Tomy's railway toy Plarail. According to the company, the product saw a higher rate of purchase for girls than that of other Plarail products.
People Co. released Nejihapi, a girls's DIY toy using an electric screwdriver, in 2018. Screwdrivers and other similar tools used to be regarded as things for men to use. Due to recent popularity of DIY, it has become common for both men and women to manually assemble simple household items.
"Screwdrivers have become a tool girls dream of using, just as they do with kitchen knives and vacuum cleaners," said a People employee in charge of Nejihapi.
"While ideas free of gender differences are spreading in the adults' world, there are an increasing number of toys users can choose without assuming which gender they've been manufactured for," said Shirayuri University Prof. Misako Morishita, who specializes in toy culture.
According to the Japan Toy Association, the domestic toy market in fiscal 2018 was 839.8 billion yen, up by 5% from the previous fiscal year and at its highest level since the association began the survey in 2001. That being said, the population of children under 15 declined by 15.6% during the same period, so it is difficult to say whether the market will be in good hands for the foreseeable future.
Toy manufacturers are developing toys users can choose with a new way of thinking because the industry is not only trying to adapt to changes in social awareness but also attract new customers.
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