Well, Americans may be wondering about some strange fads that have come out of Asia (mainly Japan), such as pokemon and the tamaguchi fad a while back that faded away like a drug-abusive child star in Hollywood. Who creates these fads? Why do they catch on in Asia so fast? Can they be transplated to Western cultures? What is their appeal?

Oddly enough, in Asia, small things are considered cute. The smaller the better. Which leads to the phrase "That's always the old excuse." that me and my friends who hate these fads used make fun of people who fell for the fad. Apparently, cute little gimmicks appeal to these people, who snap them up in droves. Don't ask me why. I think part of the appeal is the lack of enthusiasm that Asians have for big, powerful displays (monster trucks never caught on here), while they go for finesse and style. The dubious judges of what is "stylish" led to these fads.

You think pokemon is bad? Trust me, that's the best thing to come out of Japan for a long time. I like pikachu, he's cool. Remember the electronic pet craze (Tamaguchi) a while back? It came into America because it was marketable to little kids. Some fads that are in action here right now are unbelievable. Right now, it's mobile phones. You heard me. The "smallest" and "cutest" mobile phones are all the craze. Little girls attach stickers to them. Boys have phones that you can play games on. Never mind the point of the phone is to make calls, they don't use it for that purpose! In fact, some of these phones are so small, manufacturers removed the radiation protection from them. When you turn them on and put them next to a TV, the TV signal dies. That's how strong it is. Ear cancer, anyone?

It used to be compact CD players. New models would come out every month, and people would buy them, even if there were no new fancy functions on them, and the only change was that the color or design was slightly different from the last one. Some people may notice these fads are not exactly cheap to stay in fashion, but hey, it's a fad, and people who adhere to fads are often irrational!

You have to hand it to those marketing people though. They masterfully manipulated the playdough mentality of Asian kids worldwide and made billions. Good for them!

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