Dentsu poll finds year's top 10 consumer darlings

The Japan Times Online: Dentsu poll finds year's top 10 consumer darlings
South Korean star, soap opera, Ichiro, DVDs, TVs, soy milk figure on list

By TAIGA URANAKA
Staff writer

2004 saw many things strike the fancy of Japanese consumers, especially on the big screen at home, to the extent that some became social phenomena.

Large flat-screen TVs dominate a sales display at a Laox electronic appliance shop in the Akihabara district of Tokyo.

Dentsu Inc., the country's biggest ad agency, polled 1,000 people aged 15 and over on the Internet to compile its annual top 10 hit list, shown below.

No. 1: Large flat-screen TVs

This year continued to see rapid sales growth of flat-screen TVs, including liquid crystal and plasma display models.

Their popularity was boosted by big spectator events, including the Athens Olympics, and the start of terrestrial digital broadcasting in 2003 in major cities.

Conventional cathode-ray tube TVs still dominate the global market, with some 1.2 billion units sold annually.

But the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association forecast that worldwide demand for flat-screen TVs in 2004 will double to 7.9 million units.

PDP and LCD screens are meanwhile getting bigger.

In August, Sharp Corp. released a 45-inch LCD TV. It plans to introduce 50-inch-plus sizes during the fiscal year that begins in April.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.'s largest PDP is 65 inches, with a price tag of 2.08 million yen.

South Korean makers are producing even larger sets.

Aggressive production expansion by Japanese and South Korean makers, however, raises the specter of excess supply in near future, which may trigger a sharp price drop.

No. 2: Japanese players in the U.S. Major Leagues

Many Japanese, including many not usually drawn to baseball, were thrilled by Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, especially near the end of the season and the daily countdown for his historic season of hits.

The slugging sensation renewed the major league record for hits in a season, breaking the 84-year-old record of 257 held by George Sisler.

Other Japanese players also made impressive showings, including slugger Hideki Matsui of the New York Yankees and pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

No. 3: "Sekai no Chushin de Ai o Sakebu" ("Crying for Love at the Center of the World")

Many Japanese shed tears over Kyoichi Katayama's best selling novel, which tells the story of a man who loses his girlfriend to leukemia. It was also made into a TV drama and a movie, creating what was coined a "Seka-chu boom."

No. 4: DVD recorders with hard-disk drives

In Japan, a vast majority of DVD recorders are HDD-equipped.

Consumer electronics makers keep rolling out units with ever-bigger data storage capacity, enabling users to record weeks, if not months, of TV programs.

Toshiba Corp. last month released a DVD recorder with a 600-gigabyte drive, which can record up to 1,071 hours.

As a result, many users have found little use for the stacks of blank discs they bought.

No. 5: Black vinegar

No. 6: "Nigari"

No. 7: Soy milk

These three traditional drinks have recently become hits because of heightened health consciousness among consumers.

Black vinegar is made mainly from either brown rice or barley. It is touted to have positive health effects and ward off fatigue and high-blood pressure.

A number of companies tried to cash in on the boom, releasing various drinks featuring black vinegar.

Nigari and soy milk are basically the ingredients of tofu.

Nigari is the liquid left after salt is extracted from seawater. It is rich in minerals, including magnesium chloride. It is usually sold in PET bottles, and people put a little amount in drinks or cooking.

Nigari is pitched by some as an effective weight reducer. The National Institute of Health and Nutrition, however, has warned that there is no evidence supporting this assertion.

Meanwhile, domestic shipments of soy milk are expected to jump to some 180,000 tons for 2004, up from 128,000 tons last year, according to Kibun Food Chemifa Co.

The country's largest soy milk producer boosted its production capacity by 40 percent earlier this year. But it was forced to issue an apology in the summer after failing to meet robust demand.

No. 8: Bae Yong Joon

Better known as "Yon-sama," the South Korean actor who played a leading role in the TV drama "Fuyu no Sonata" ("Winter Sonata") triggered a phenomenal boom for all things South Korean.

Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute Inc. estimates the "Fuyusona boom" has brought 694.5 billion won (69 billion yen) to the South Korean economy through a jump in the number of Japanese tourists.

The boom is also estimated to have generated 122.5 billion yen in Japan, through strong sales of items related to the drama as well as those of products promoted by TV commercials featuring Bae and Choi Ji woo, the heroine in the drama.

No. 9: "The Last Samurai"

The 2003 film starring Tom Cruise saw his Japanese costar, Ken Watanabe, nominated for an Oscar.

No. 10: Flat-rate fees

Late last year, KDDI Corp. began a flat-rate fee for its third-generation cell phone network. NTT DoCoMo Inc. and Vodafone K.K. followed suit.

By introducing a fixed monthly packet fee, the carriers are hoping to encourage users to download more content, including movies, music and games.

The Japan Times: Dec. 30, 2004
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