New versions of old toys are a hit with kids and adults

Making a comeback is a tabletop game that first went on sale in 1958.
By YOICHIRO KAGAWA
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
TOKYO -- Reproductions of toys and games that were popular in the 1970s are attracting people in their 30s and 40s who cherish their childhood memories with the toys and have plenty of disposable income to spend on them.
The new versions of such toys and games often are more advanced through the use of digital technology. They evoke nostalgic memories for adults, and their children can enjoy them, too.
"Kamen Rider" (Masked Rider) was a popular television show between 1971 and 1973. The main character transforms himself into masked hero Kamen Rider. When he goes through a transformation, his belt's buckle, shaped like a propeller, spins. The new version of the Kamen Rider belt was released by toy manufacturer Bandai Co. in late March. The product flew off store shelves.
Bandai produced the original Kamen Rider belt when the show was on, and the toy became a huge hit. The company sold about 3.8 million of them.
The new version is for those in their 30s and 40s, who admired Kamen Rider in their childhood. Real leather is used for the belt, and the buckle spins just like it did in the TV show. The expected sales figure, 10,000, will soon be met, according to Bandai.
Baseball game
Epoch Co.'s tabletop mechanical baseball game has been on sale since 1958. It made waves in the 1970s, but sales were slow after that, with annual sales hovering in the several tens of thousands.
In 2004, the company reissued the game, making the exterior similar to that of the hit version of the product. As a result, sales jumped to 250,000, which is three to five times the figure for the average year. The boom has proved long-lasting, with about 200,000 units sold in 2005.
"Many fathers buy the game, saying that they can't compete with their kids in computer games, but they can in this. It's also kind of new to the kids," an employee of the company's public relations department said.
The game has been selling well this year, with the Japanese team's victory in the World Baseball Classic.
Other toys
Rubik's Cube, sold by MegaHouse Corp., is another example of an old toy that has become popular again. Last year marked the second-highest sales figure for the toy since the early 1980s, as toys that exercise the mind have become hits.
Not only men are nostalgic about the old days. Tomy Co. started selling Koeda-chan to Ki no Ouchi (Koeda and a wooden house), which is a model treehouse set with furniture and a doll, for the first time in 11 years in 2004. Mothers in their 30s enjoy playing house with their daughters.
Simple classic toys also are regaining popularity. Bandai recently released a toy shaped like a cat's paw. It is a reproduction of a toy that became a million-seller after its release in 1986. When the company conducted trial sales in February in several stores in Tokyo, the product sold out in two days, according to the company.
At 16 centimeters, the updated toy is half the length of the original, meaning it can be attached to a bag as a charm.
According to private research firm Yano Research Institute, the toy market in 2005 was worth about 1.2 trillion yen, almost three-fourths the record-high 1.63 trillion yen posted in 1997.
Rumiko Onuki of the institute said: "With the declining number of children, toy manufacturers have no choice but to make goods for adults."