HYPER YO-YO TO THE RESCUE?
®Hyper yo-yo is new Japanese toy craze
United Press International - November 12, 1997 07:54
%FINANCIAL %JAPAN %YO %YO V%UPI P%UPI
TOKYO, Nov. 12 (UPI) - A new toy in Japan is taking off and it's not
a virtual one.
It's the yo-yo - not your run of the mill yo-yo - but the hyper yo-
yo.
Department stores say schoolboys are lining up to buy the old
favorite that has a bit of power in its tank.
A spokesman for Bandai, the company that produced the smash-hit
virtual toy tamagochi that needs so much molly coddling, said it can't
keep up with production.
He said, however the hyper yo-yo is still not as popular as tamagochi
which gained global popularity, especially with girls.
Hathumi Kitaka, a toys sales person at the Tokyu department store
told United Press International, ''The yo-yo is especially popular with boys aged between 10 and 12 and also 16-18 year olds. They range in price from 680 yen to 2,400 yen ($5.50-$19.20).''
Bandai says that from the first quarter of the year till the end of
October, its has sold some 3 million yo-yos and it hopes to reach its
target of 5 million by the end of the year.
A similar yo-yo craze peaked about 20 years ago in Japan.
The new hyper yo-yo, however, has bold colors and a spring-action
device with a ball-bearing mechanism to guide those extra twirls and
swirls.
Yumi Shiozawa of the Odakyu Department store in Tokyo says, ''Because
of TV commercial and magazine ads we're constantly out of stock. The
manufacturer can't keep up with our orders.''
Mother of two, Miho Suzuki, said, ''I think yo-yos are much better
for children to play with than computer games. I remember yo-yoing
myself.''
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Copyright 1997 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.¯
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