Hasta La Gadget!

The Nikkei Marketing Journal had a feature recently on the bestselling products for the first half of 2010. Let’s take a look at just a few…

The continued popularity of nineteenth century reforming samurai Ryoma Sakamoto — in particular, galvanized by the current NHK taiga drama about his life — has manifested itself as a bundle of tie-in products. We reported on the Sakamoto-themed golf clubs (and others) a few weeks ago but the NMJ reports that Ryoma fever has led specifically to an estimated economic boost of 400 billion yen (c.$4.4 billion) in the warrior’s home province of Kochi, Shikoku.

The publishing trend for re-working theoretical books into easy-to-understand bestsellers has turned Drucker and Nietzsche into commuter must-reads. Moshi dora, ostensibly applying Drucker’s ideas of management to a high school baseball team, has sold more than half a million copies.

Deflation was also a hot topic earlier this year, gaining quite a bit of coverage in foreign press too. This led to the 250 yen ($2.75) gyudon beef rice bowl (boosting custom at Sukiya and Matsuya et al by 10% in a month) and a price war between convenience stores over roll cakes. Apparently one in three people in Japan has now enjoyed one of the competing 150 yen ($1.65) cakes!

Fashion trends also went through some rural hoops. The Yama Sukaato (山スカート, Mountain Skirt) has led to the birth of a new subculture, the “stylish outdoor girl” (おしゃれなアウトドア派女性), and more hikers in their twenties and thirties. For the men, elegant Kamakura Shirt (Maker’s Shirt Kamakura) items only go for a modest 5,000 yen (c.$55) on average and have been a word-of-mouth hit, with sales for the last three months being 50% more than the same period last year.

[Yama Skirt girls pic via Elle]

Lastly, we shouldn’t underestimate the power of otaku consumers and the things they like! Akihabara faves AKB48 have seen scarily fanatical crowds at their meet-and-greet sessions, and their CDs and photo books are selling by the hundreds of thousands.