Adults, Foreign Visitors Help Japanese Toy Market Expand, Hit ¥1 Tril. for 2 Consecutive Years

By Norihito Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

11:41 JST, October 18, 2025

Although Japan’s birthrate is falling rapidly, the domestic toy market is expanding at an unprecedented rate.

According to the Japan Toy Association, which made up of toy manufacturers and related businesses, the size of the market reached a record high in fiscal 2024 and surpassed the ¥1 trillion mark for two consecutive years. The bustling business is supported by “kidults,” or adults who have a keen interest in toys like kids. Why have the adults become obsessed with toys that are meant for children?

Price not important

During a weekend in mid-September, many customers gathered at the “kidult” section near the entrance of a toy store in Minato Ward, Tokyo. The Toys”R”Us Babies”R”Us Odaiba displays about 2,000 items, from plastic models to character merchandise.

Chizumi Kobayashi, 31-year-old nursery teacher, came to the store from Midori, Gunma Prefecture, and purchased a blind box for a character figurine.

“Now that I’m a grownup and have money that I can use freely for myself, I can’t help buying these things because it’s incredibly fun and exciting to guess what’s inside,” she said with her eyes sparkling.

Kidult, a coinage of “adult” and “kid,” describes an adult who is a child at heart.

Toys”R”Us-Japan, Ltd. has launched kidult sections at 37 of its stores across Japan and opened two stores this spring that exclusively sell kidult products.

“At our stores, many customers buy toys they used to play with when they were children, feeling nostalgic,” said Tomokazu Usui, 49, the manager of the Odaiba store. “Even if the price is a bit high, they tend to seek products that are more authentic. The range of products we carry is getting wider than it used to be,” he added.

Rekindled passion

In some cases, people find their passion for toys rekindled after becoming inspired by their children. For a year or so, company employee Tadamitsu Wada, 38, who lives in Koto Ward, Tokyo, has been into Beyblade spinning tops. He battles with his son, who is in the second year at elementary school. Both use their own customized tops.

Wada played with the toy when its first series hit store shelves in 1999. Later, when he and his son participated in a hands-on Beyblade event, he was captivated by how the toy had evolved rather than just feeling nostalgic. He has since collected about 130 Beyblade tops, each costing ¥2,000 to ¥3,000, and now participates in competitive events for the tops across the country every weekend with his son.

“Sometimes I get together with other adults after work and we enjoy battling with each other. It’s a great way to relieve stress,” Wada said.

Nice souvenirs

Japanese adults are not the only ones who are enthusiastic about toys. Through online streaming and other media, Japanese anime and manga have become extremely popular worldwide, and more and more tourists from overseas purchase character merchandise as souvenirs.

Every day, many international tourists flock to toy shops in Akihabara, Tokyo, a place known as a hub for otaku. In the area, there are a noticeable number of sign boards written in English, Chinese and other languages.

Noemie Asdrubal, a 24-year-old tourist from France who came to Japan with her sister and friends, bought more than an armful of character figures from the popular anime “Jujutsu Kaisen.”

“[Anime] figures are available in France as well, but there’s an incredible wide variety of them in Japan,” said Asdrubal who looked satisfied with her haul. She keeps many Japanese manga and anime figures in a bookcase in her room back home. “It’s great that I can buy them at about half the prices [in France]. I can’t wait to add them to my collection.”

Akihiro Sato, 60, a board member of the Japan Toy Association, has high hopes for what lies ahead.

Sato emphasized that people who grew up surrounded by toys from childhood have now become adults or will soon become adults. “If we bring in such people from home and abroad, the toy market can expand even more,” he said.

Popularity of collectible cards

According to a survey by the association, the size of the domestic toy market, based on manufacturers’ recommended retail prices, expanded for five consecutive years from fiscal 2020 to fiscal 2024, surpassing the ¥1 trillion mark for the first time in fiscal 2023 and reaching ¥1.099 trillion in fiscal 2024, up by 7.9% from the previous fiscal year.

The growth of the market is led by the genre of card games and collectible cards, which account for nearly 30% of the whole market at about ¥302.46 billion, up by 9% compared to the previous fiscal year.

Also performing well are toys related to characters from anime and films at ¥78.51 billion, up by 21.3% from the previous fiscal year. The genre of trendy high-tech toys, such as ones using robots or generative artificial intelligence, is growing rapidly as well at ¥18.3 billion, up by 42.4% from the previous year.