Hands Tailung on the Craze for Things Japanese

"People who come to Hands Tailung are all very attentive to the latest popular trends in Japan, and are also customers who like novelty," explains Weng Chen-yi, the store's deputy manager for foreign vendors and sales promotions. Japan follows its own distinctive consumer and marketing logic, and even global products are promoted in a unique manner in the Japanese market. The Japanese are not only adept at using new packaging or improved versions of products to continually stimulate consumer purchases, but also use offbeat approaches to come up with novel products.

In the past few years, influenced by Japanese television dramas and variety shows, Taiwan's trend-conscious consumer market has gradually moved away from American influence toward a more Japanese orientation. At the same time, as more and more young Taiwanese make regular shopping trips to Japan, giving them ready access to first-hand knowledge of the latest trends, Taiwan's pop culture, which formerly lagged that of Japan by three years, now trails it by just six months or so.

"If you want to know the next step for Taiwan's consumer trends, just look at what's hot in Japan now," observes Weng. Weng, who travels to Japan nearly every month, says that the "psychologically soothing" products that began to become popular last year in Japan marked a new direction emerging in response to the overly stressful lifestyles. Songs, toys, lifestyle articles and other items are labeled as helping people relax and as healing the mind and body.

In keeping with this trend, many people are raising flowering plants or small animals as a way of soothing their weary spirits. At Hands Tailung, one can see this transformation in the type of plant products on sale.

"Three years ago, the Marimo 'lucky' seaweed from Hokkaido's Akan Lake was popular. Now, miniature ecosystems are in, especially those that feature animals, which have exploded in popularity to become the best of the 'healing' products," notes Weng. Raised in a vat, the unusual spherical Marimo seaweed can perform photosynthesis and slowly grow. When introduced two years ago, the limited release of 30 cans sold out in just a month.

The coral terrariums that came to market in February of this year need only proper lighting to grow, with no need for special care, and have been widely welcomed by busy office workers. As for the scarlet shrimp aquariums that arrived on shelves in March, they have been even more popular. Four or five of these miniature crimson-hued shrimp measuring one to two centimeters in length are raised in a special transparent vessel with very attractive seaweed. The shrimp do not need to be fed, and the owner need only add artificial seawater provided with the aquarium as needed. This will enable the shrimp to live for two to eight years. Although the price is not cheap (around NT$1500), they have already become favorite stress relievers for Taiwanese students and office workers.

Weng notes that on the one hand, Taiwan follows Japan's lead when it comes to popular trends, while on the other, its thirst for novelty is just as startling. This is evident with Taiwan's legendary magic egg, which played the role of trendsetter in Japan while also starting a fad in Taiwan for a few months, but gradually lost its appeal as many consumers complained that there are too few options for message text, or that the plant did not grow easily enough. Vendors hoping to succeed must therefore quickly enhance their offerings.

"If the magic egg can be made to the standard of a Japanese product, changing the packaging or developing a new variation each month, it can remain a hot seller in the market," says Weng. He fervently hopes that this "Made in Taiwan" invention can become one of Hands Tailung's proudest offerings.

Hounded by stress, modern urban dwellers can receive some measure of comfort and sense of relaxation from the daily viewing of a small plant or animal gradually growing on their desks. The merchandise that is currently selling fastest includes test tube plants, scarlet shrimp, and Marimo "lucky" seaweed.

Hounded by stress, modern urban dwellers can receive some measure of comfort and sense of relaxation from the daily viewing of a small plant or animal gradually growing on their desks. The merchandise that is currently selling fastest includes test tube plants, scarlet shrimp, and Marimo "lucky" seaweed.

Hounded by stress, modern urban dwellers can receive some measure of comfort and sense of relaxation from the daily viewing of a small plant or animal gradually growing on their desks. The merchandise that is currently selling fastest includes test tube plants, scarlet shrimp, and Marimo "lucky" seaweed.