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The Yomiuri Shimbun Sylvanian Families dolls are seen on display at a limited-time shop in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo. The venue is crowded with adult, female customers.
By Hiromi Kanekita / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
12:20 JST, January 4, 2025
Women in Japan have become enamored with Sylvanian Families, a series of adorable animal dolls that celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.
Why are adults attracted to these long-lived toys meant for children?
In early November, a shop selling Sylvanian Families dolls opened for a limited time in the Shibuya Hikarie complex in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo. The store was crowded with people itching for a look at the series’ new products.
Launched by Epoch Co. in Tokyo in 1985, the series depicts the life of rabbits, bears and other forest-dwelling animal friends. There are over 110 doll varieties, with care put into the smallest details. The dolls are loved in more than 70 countries and regions around the world, and more than 200 million of the little critters have been sold to date.
There were many women at the shop. “I enjoy traveling with them and making clothes for them. They give me comfort,” said Koiki Taguchi, a 19-year-old university student from Tokyo who has been a fan of Sylvanian Families since she was a child.
A 47-year-old housewife from Yokohama, smiling as she showed off a doll hanging from her bag, said: “I have admired them since I was a kid, but I couldn’t afford to buy one at that time. Thanks to the current ‘oshikatsu’ boom [of supporting your favorite person or thing as an adult fan], I don’t have to feel embarrassed about carrying them around with me.”
A marketing representative at Epoch, said that the products’ main target has always been children aged from 3 to 9 and that the company is not necessarily developing the products for adults. However, adults going out with the dolls and participating in other “Siru Katsu” — short for “Sylvanian Families activities” — have increased in popularity since the COVID-19 pandemic.
As to why adults have made the dolls into a hobby, the representative said social media has played a big role. An increasing number of fans have been uploading photos of themselves going out with their Sylvanian Families companions or dressing them up in handmade clothes. In 2020, the company started appointing “official ambassadors” from among these fans.
The dolls’ popularity is also spreading to the world of manga. A comedy manga series published by Kodansha Ltd. since 2023 depicts the interactions between two high school students, a “gyaru” who loves Sylvanian Families and a girl from the handicraft club.
Asked why adults become so fascinated by the dolls, Kuko Okano, the author of the manga, said: “There’s a lot of different types [of dolls], so everyone can find their favorite. They’re small enough to carry around, and people feel secure with them, like they’re carrying a good luck charm.”
The dolls have become even more recognized among adults as an item from the oshikatsu subculture.
In the TBS drama series “Saionji-san wa Kaji o Shinai” (Ms. Saionji doesn’t do household chores), which aired from July to September, the protagonist, a single, 38-year-old career woman, shows off her collection of Sylvanian Families dolls, which she has in a secret room in her home. She also displays acrylic stands featuring herself.
Sylvanian Families dolls do not appear in the drama series’ original manga by Satoru Hiura. According to the show’s producer, the protagonist is a character who dedicates herself to work and makes no time for housework. She said she came up with the idea of using Sylvanian Families dolls in the drama after discussions with the scriptwriter and others in which they speculated that the character must be spending her time on something besides work.
The Yomiuri Shimbun A woman hangs a Sylvanian Families doll from her bag. She says she always goes out with it.
Since the launch of Sylvanian Families, the series’ theme has been “nature, family and love.” The producer said that goes well with the drama’s theme of “What is a family?” “[The world of Sylvanian Families] is a gentle utopia where all kinds of animals live together in harmony,” she said. “It embodies the diversity of society, which is another one of its appeals.”
The drama’s protagonist, who is financially independent, is surrounded by her collection of Sylvanian Families dolls, which she purchased with her own money and enjoys in her free time. Many female viewers empathize with the protagonist.
“I assume they recalled the excitement and comfort they felt from the things they played with in their childhood,” the producer said. “We now live in an age when we can say that we like what we like, whatever it is, and I assume people who have their own favorite things look the most radiant.”
Doing interviews for this article, I remembered playing with Sylvanian Families dolls when I was a child. I decided to welcome a kitty doll into our home, and I feel at peace when I look at its indescribably gentle face.
