Sparking Curiosity: Developing Toys for Mischievous Children

Japan is renowned for its high-quality toys and products, crafted with meticulous attention to detail, safety, and educational value, reflecting the nation's cultural emphasis on early childhood development. Prioritizing comfort and usability, Japanese brands enjoy success both domestically and internationally. However, with a declining population and a birth rate projected to reach 1.2 in 2023, significant demographic shifts over the next 15 years will inevitably impact the industry and its future direction. What are the strengths of Japanese toy development for young children, and what does Japan have to offer to the rest of the world in this regard? And can you talk about some of the challenges the demographic crisis creates for your company and what you're doing internationally to help address the shrinking domestic market?

We still see huge potential in the domestic market, but we also see potential overseas. It is true that the population is declining and the market size itself is shrinking, but despite this, we see growing market opportunities. This is because as we process our products, there will be more market needs within both the domestic and international markets. The uniqueness of our company is that we have detailed analysis of children and infants, and we use that analysis to focus on their curiosity as human beings since curiosity is an innate part of being human. Even as infants, curiosity drives us forward, which leads to actions. Eleven children are matched with a toy that piques their curiosity, they furiously play with that toy. We've taken this approach all across the world, and mothers are so amazed to see how engaged their children are with the toys we bring them. At that point, we realized that the uniqueness of Japanese toys is the astute instigation of self-play, whereas Western toys are more focused on child-parent communication. Based on our research and a trial-and-error approach, we believe that we have created unique toys that cater to the bugging curiosity of young infants. This unique product development has been well received by the market.

As a Japanese company, we have always focused on Japanese infants and children, but we realize that maybe infants' and children's curiosity is universal worldwide. This is why we have started studying infants and children overseas, with our theories being proven true. With this commonality among all children, we see huge potential in our products.

Curiosity is something that has not been extensively researched, but based on our study and analysis, we have realized that satisfying infants' curiosity at the moment allows the infant to touch, feel, and move however they want before progressing to the next stage. All of those curiosity-driven movements infants make are part of their human nature, and they have the will and determination to grow through the learning process. If we provide the best learning environment tools that will help the children grow in the soundest way. 

One of your product series is called the 'Do As You Want-For Mischievous One-Year-Olds Series (Itazura 1sai yaritai-hodai)' and is based on the idea that kids and babies have a mischievous nature. What did you find in your R&D that ultimately led to the development of this product series?

Out of our in-depth analysis of children, we found daily behavior that may be considered as mischievous by parents. Despite this, behavior like this is very important to satisfy the curiosity of children during their growing process. One example is infants tearing out all of the tissue from a tissue box. From the parent's point of view, this causes extra work to clean up, but from a child's point of view, they are curious about the tissues and the box, so they are just exploring what is inside. Many parents know that behavior such as this is only part of growing up, but there is a dilemma in the extra work it causes. Parents want to educate their children to be good-mannered and not mischievous. What we propose allows children to exert what they want to do to their full extent through toys. The ideas we all have come from the daily things that infants do that are considered mischievous, such as playing with a TV remote, smartphone, or a water tap and a pair of the father's glasses. All of these curiosities can be satisfied by using our toys. This product has been sold for more than 40 years now, and we are constantly updating our lineup to match what is happening in society at the time. For example, when we first started selling this series, we used compact disc-looking toys, but now we've moved to toys that look like smartphones.

How often do you try to upgrade your lineup?

We try to change things whenever there are new trends.

Do you have any special plans for the 40th anniversary?

Yes, we are currently forming some ideas.

In our research, we found that you have plans for a new toy series which will be launched simultaneously in Japan and the UK in May 2025. Why did you choose the UK?

Our primary focus is to create high-quality toys for children, prioritizing thoughtful design and research. This commitment requires careful attention to details and substantial investment in R&D. Pursuing mass production at low costs would compromise the resources necessary for these processes, which is why we focus on meaningful, high-quality toys rather than solely on market volume.

When considering our overseas expansion, we initially focused on the US and China due to their large market sizes. However, we encountered challenges in aligning with the market dynamics. In the US, we previously had significant success with our magnetic toys through a distributor, but differences in long-term strategies led us to discontinue that business.

Our philosophy emphasizes quality and innovation, which often contrasts with approaches that prioritize high-volume production at lower prices.

In China, we launched our product “Do As You Want – For Mischievous 1-Year-Olds (Itazura 1sai yaritai-hodai),” which once achieved remarkable success as the top product in the Chinese toy market. However, the market has since been saturated with imitation products, making it unsustainable for us to continue operations there.

For our next step in overseas expansion, we decided to focus on Europe, where there is a strong emphasis on educational toys. Parents in Europe tend to take time to select toys thoughtfully, aligning closely with our core values. Among European markets, we chose the UK as our starting point due to its unique combination of cultural affinity with Japan as an island nation and its consumer behavior, which values ​​smaller, specialized retail stores. England provides an excellent environment for direct interaction and observation of parents, children, and their interactions with toys, which is integral to our research-driven approach.

One of the most interesting toys you produce is your Rice Toy, specifically designed for babies who like to put things in their mouths. Made from real domestically grown rice, the toys are both safe and eco-friendly. How are you able to make these products with rice, and are you interested in selling these products in Europe?

We were determined to pursue what truly makes a toy safe for children to put in their mouths. At a time when awareness of food safety in Japan was rising, we focused on not only ensuring the safety of children but also providing peace of mind to parents when selecting products.

In this search for the ideal material, we discovered the potential of rice. The "Rice-Based Toy (Okome-no-omocha)" is made with 51% rice using advanced Japanese rice-plastic technology and features a gentle, natural rice scent. This eco-friendly product uses broken rice grains produced during the milling process and stockpiled rice that is no longer in use. Notably, the product was developed ahead of the global SDGs trend, seamlessly aligning with the movement that followed.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the launch of “Rice-Based Toy (Okome-no-omocha).” Originally designed to offer safe and secure toys for children in Japan, we have since realized that there is a significant demand for these toys in other countries, especially in Asia, where rice plays a central role in the culture. This is why we are excited to expand our presence globally.

Rice-Based Toy (Okome-no-omocha)

Can you tell us about any new products or developments you are currently working on?

We do have a new product launching in May 2025 that we have showcased in London, but at this time, I cannot discuss the details too much. Before I talk about this product, I would like to introduce myself quickly.

I became the president of People four years ago, and currently, the company is in the midst of change and reform. When I assumed the presidency, the company was not in a good situation; gross profits had decreased immensely, and our long-selling products were not doing well. I started my position by outlining the purpose of the company in order to overcome these hurdles. I set the purpose of the company to “Create moments that spark children's curiosity.” Centering around this ethos, we decided to discontinue a number of product lines that didn't match our new mission. This meant that we could refocus ourselves. Interestingly, “Rice-Based Toy (Okome-no-omocha)” were considered as a product to drop. However, once I listened to the feedback from parents, we understood that this product draws out curiosity and, therefore, meets our criteria.

Very young children have instinctive movements, and then when they reach the age of around one-year-old, their curiosity progresses into behavior where they try to mimic adults by grabbing things and trying to do something with that object. Take a rectangular board and give it to a newborn, and they will probably lick it, whereas give the same board to a one-year-old, and they will hold it to their ear like a smartphone. When those children turn one year old, they become very curious, particularly about the behavior of their parents.

We have now been observing children across the globe, and we've realized that there are commonalities among all children. Our company has carried out different types of experiments with infants and children across the world. From our research, we noticed that infants always carry things in their hands, and if you take those items, they get upset, mimicking the behavior of parents. We then tried to find the kinds of things they wanted to carry and the things that they didn't want to grab. Strangely, we noticed that cylindrical iodine bottles are the most popular thing to grab. Sunscreen bottles with indentations on the neck were strangely avoided. It was through these discoveries that we learned that infants prefer cylindrical objects with a specific diameter. We've then taken these microscopic details and applied them to our new product developments.

Partnerships play an important role in your industry, whether they are distribution partners or collaborators for licensed characters, such as the Snoopy collaborations you have done in the past. Are you looking to expand your international partnerships?

The project I just talked about is called “1curiosity” and our company is constantly looking for new partners, whether that is for distribution or sales. We are looking for those who enjoy the observation of children and want to create products that satisfy the curiosity of young minds. Media partners are also important since our analysis and product developments could be featured in global media.

Usually, young children only focus on a toy for about 5 minutes before walking away, playing with something else, and then coming back to the toy. With our new product development, we've noticed that children were focused on the toy for 45 minutes to 60 minutes at a time, which is quite incredible. We weren't expecting their concentration levels to be that high. We want to find partners who will appreciate this approach.

How would you like your company to be seen in the global market?

We want to be known as a company that specializes in creating opportunities for zero to three-year-old children to satisfy their curiosity. The actions of children may be considered mischievous, but they are not. They are instinctive to human nature. By allowing infants and children to express their curiosity freely, we help them gain their own sense of individuality. We envision creating a society that is more accepting and accommodating to more individualistic pursuits.

For more information, please visit their website:  https://www.people-kk.co.jp/

You can learn more and follow them on LinkedIn:  https://linkedin.com/company/toysbypeople/