September 1, 2001

• Global Barbie Japan for Sept/Oct 2001

  A few years back I was reporting for a doll magazine called "Barbie Bazaar," which is no longer published.  Here is one of the articles that I did, which may not be interesting for most of the audience, so just scroll past if you can't stomach the misadventures of a committed collector!  Haha!

  Metropolitan Tokyo boasts of several shopping districts such as Shinjuku, Shibuya and Nihonbashi, most of which have grown up around inner city train terminals. Each department store boasts of at least eight floors above ground and two below, and is set in the pavement like a massive jewel that beckons us to enter through its heavy glass doors to shop ‘till we drop.  Accessible either from the street or directly from inside the train station, each shopping edifice is a small world unto itself, offering an endless array of anything you could ask for, from fancy kimonos and top European styles to a basement maze of deli goods from all over the world and a top floor restaurant paradise. Department stores also play a role as cultural centers that sponsor temporary shops, museum displays and exhibitions.  It happens that there were a few department store doll events taking place recently, so let’s take a look. 

  Our first stop is a Barbie event at Marui department store in Shinjuku, which happened to be within fifteen minutes cycling distance from my front door.  What could I do but start pedaling?

  

  Marui Barbie Shop

  The Barbie display was prominently placed near the first floor entrance of the store, next to the fancy perfumes and across from the designer sunglasses.  “Wow!”I thought, and whipped out my camera to snap a quick shot, using the sunglass counter for cover.  Unfortunately, the same flash that gave me a perfect photo also visually announced my dastardly digicam deed and attracted a pair of flustered store employees who informed me that that pictures were not allowed and that I would have to make a formal application to their publicity department.  I tried explaining how important it was that the dear readers of the internationally famous Barbie Bazaar be exposed to this historical Japanese Barbie moment, but the mere mention of a magazine article only made matters more “difficult,” which accurately translates from Japanese as “No way, Jose.”  Next time I will just play dumb tourist, sigh, “So sorry!” and run.

  

  I was allowed to take pictures outdoors in the public domain, so let’s cross the street and imagine ourselves passing through the heavy glass doors and taking ten short steps into the first floor of Marui department store.  Please close your eyes and inhale the scent of Nina Ricci and Chopard perfume, and listen to the DJ playing Virgin Records’ top 10 countdown over the store PA system.  Visualize the back wall of the Barbie display area as being lined with thirty five or so pricey collector edition Barbie dolls in spacious boxes (Barbie Loves Frankie, Hanae Mori, Society Hound, Liz as Cleopatra, Nostalgic – you get the idea), while a square pink wheeled rack overflowing with cheaper pink box dolls (Barbie Style, Barbie Chic and Hip 2B Square) occupies the center floor of the display area. This clever selection of both high and low price ranges is aimed at Marui’s young clientele, which consists of mostly of older teens and young working adults.  The collector editions might tend to attract the nouveau freshman workers who have just received their first paychecks and see a fancy Barbie doll as an interesting interior decoration for their first apartment.  The dirt-cheap pink box Barbie dolls, on the other hand, would have a strong dormitory mascot appeal for college students and teens whose wallets might be a bit thinner.

  There are many other Barbie logo items available for girls too old to play with dolls but not too old to accessorize, including pin badges, stationary items (pens, notebooks erasers), glittery pink phone straps, blue denim wallets with matching pen cases and crinkly pink bags bearing the Barbie logo at $60.00. Promotions of this type are excellent opportunities for Barbie doll to increase her popularity with girls of all ages, and I hope that Marui and other department stores as well will continue lending her their support and floor space.

  Let us proceed to the next doll event that was held during the first week of May at the fashionable Nihonbashi branch of Mitsukoshi department store, the 35th anniversary of Takara’s Licca doll.  Mitsukoshi enjoys the reputation of being one of Japan’s oldest and most exclusive department stores, carries only the best merchandise and lets you take pictures.  I think that it must also boast of having the world’s most humongous knickknack, a three story ceramic object in its main entrance area.

  

  See?  I told you it was big!

  

  Here are some of the dolls that were on display, beginning with "Platinum Licca."

  

  Licca and Family Dolls portrayed by Tezuka Osamu, the father of Japanese comics

  

  Kimono Licca

  

  Pink Lady Licca

  There were also some one-of-a-kind dolls on display, one of which had been created by Keiko Masuda, formerly of the popular singing duo Pink Lady.  Special event Licca dolls for sale came in two versions, a mermaid and a doll in a red “Licca 2001” dress.  Both of these dolls were featured in a short movie that was being shown up on Mitsukoshi’s roof, “Licca-chan Fushigi na Umi no Monogatari” (Licca’s Mysterious Undersea Adventure).  Other fun up on the roof included a stage show and a play area where little girls could get hands-on experience with the newest Licca doll products.  Licca, even at 35, you never looked so good.

  

  Licca 2001

  

  Mermaid Licca

  Before our last department store doll event, I need to back up a bit to introduce the star of this particular exhibition, the Blythe doll.  Blythe was sold during the 1970's for a brief time and then went off the market because with her huge head and ditzy expression, she did not catch on.  She regained popularity through the work of photographer Gina Garan, who portrayed Blythe in "cute" situations.  The Japanese just can't resist "cute!"  Parco Department Store could not resist Blythe's cuteness, either, and made her their poster girl for a time.

  

  Dotter and I actually once got a chance to meet Gina in person, and dotter asked Gina to autograph the butts of our vintage dolls.  She was kind enough to comply! 

  The Blythe event that we are about to visit took place at the Parco department store in Shibuya.

  

  Crosswalk Near Shibuya Station

  

  Blythe Posters Outside Parco

  

  I had looking forward “with my neck stretched” as the Japanese say, to my chance of finally purchasing my very own Blythe replica at this event ever since I got wind of it last March at the Tokyo Toy Show.  Having been previously assured by the gallery personnel that there would be plenty of dolls available, I arrived at around one on the opening day only to find the small gallery area so swamped with lines of Blythe’s twentyish female fans that surprised Parco employees were feverishly engaged in crowd control.  To my utter shock and disappointment, when I asked a sweaty man about the replicas, he panted that the dolls were not actually at the gallery, and that only 500 purchase reservations were being taken, one to a customer.  Further inquiry revealed that all of the reservations had been snapped up by early birds who had camped at Parco’s door from some ungodly hour until the store’s 10:00 opening time.  There was nothing left, and us foolish latecomers were directed to line up and gnash our teeth in the stairwell near the gallery if we still wanted to see just the exhibit.  Wailings overheard in line included, “Oh, we should have come earlier!” and “Do you think that we’ll get in by three?  ”I received little comfort from the sweaty man dropping by the stairwell cue to announce that the tee shirts had just sold out.

  The replicas that I could have gotten had I been earlier were on display at the bottom of the staircase, a blond and a redhead. As I quickly learned that Parco’s picture policy was the same as that of Marui department store, the only picture that I could get was with a zoom lens from afar, so please forgive the picture quality.  The blond replica was dressed in a Mondrian inspired pantsuit with red boots, and would sell for about $65.00 if had she been (sniff) available.

  The redheaded doll, whose costume was designed by Gina Garan, wore a pink paisley dress with white fishnet stockings and go-go boots and would sell for about $80.00.  Her costume was rendered complete by the pink and red stars that twinkled in her hair and her blue cell phone.  As I later did some close range drooling over these out-of-reach dolls, I did notice a couple of minor differences between vintage Blythe and the Blythe replicas. The eye coloring of the replica dolls did not seem to be so vivid as in the original, and like the arms of nostalgic replica Barbie dolls, the arms of the replica Blythe dolls were shorter and more petite than vintage arms.  Although the doll on display in Takara’s toy show booth had a body identical to vintage Blythe, it would almost seem that Takara used the body of their Licca doll for this Blythe replica.

  

  Blythe Replicas

  After a one hour sojourn in the stairwell, I was finally able to enter the Logos Gallery to see display of Ms Garan’s twenty or so dolls, and was again surprised that such a small dose of Blythe would stir up such a serious case of Blythe fever.   The display case housed Blythe in such getups as a saucy flapper dress, a tattooed, big haired temptress outfit and as an innocent cheerleader uniform.  Also present was the mermaid style Blythe doll that was featured on the cover of the recent Nordstrom department store promotional booklet Blythe on Beauty.  It was refreshing to see from the dolls’ hair styling and nostalgic costumes that although several of the Blythes on display were in less than mint condition, they had no less love lavished on them.  Even a doll that had little hair left or that was missing those all important eyelashes was styled to look as if she had come that way from the factory as a special issue.  The wall of the gallery was covered with unpublished photographs of Blythe in various adorable poses.  The Logos Gallery Blythe exhibition was clearly a case of “less is more,” and the petite display spoke volumes about how precious each doll was, no matter what her condition.

   

  Scenes from Logos Gallery – from Internet website

  The next line was at the souvenir counter, and I must say that this is the first time in my life that I have lined up not knowing what the merchandise was or if there was going to be anything left.  My Parco website preview of this event had led me to expect Blythe postcards, stickers, tee shirts and phone straps, but with the tee shirts all gone…I was grateful that the other items were still available, and came home with a couple of each.

  

  T – ShirtsPost Card Booklet Cell Phone Strap

  I have not lost all hope of obtaining a Blythe replica.  After checking with another Parco branch, I learned that I will be given another chance at getting a doll on June 11, when temporary “Blythe Shops” will be opened for a one week period.  Dolls will be sold on a first come first served one to a customer basis in very limited qualities, so I am considering pitching my tent outside of a remote suburban Parco branch on the evening of the 10th.  If that does proves unsuccessful, I can throw my name (an the names of my husband, two children and rabbit) into Parco’s Internet website lottery “hat” for a random chance to purchase one of fifty Blythe dolls that will be “available” for sale.  My last resort is to buy the one of a kind Gina Garan design vintage “Bridal Blythe” for a mere $8000, but this doll will also be sold under a lottery system, so there is still no guarantee that I will be able to purchase it.  It would have looked so nice next to Platinum Wedding Licca.

  

  A Later Update!

  I had left the article hanging as to whether I would be able to get a Blythe replica or not, and would like to provide the latest chapter in the saga. According to the information on Parco department store's website, Blythe dolls were to go on sale in very limited qualities (about 500 in total) in all of its branches throughout the country on June 11th.  Judging from the impossible situation at the Logos Gallery Blythe exhibition that opened on May 25th, I picked a smaller suburban branch of Parco in a bed town called Chofu, where 24 dolls would be available.  I went a couple of days early to check out the proper information, such as which door to line up at, and was also informed by the girl at the information counter that 24 "right to buy" tickets would be passed out at 9:30 am in preparation for the store's opening at 10:00. It was comforting to be armed with this information, but the ease with which the explanation was delivered also gave me an ominous feeling.

  I had decided to leave at home at on June 11th at 6:00 am to arrive at in Chofu at 7:00 am.  After all, there is only so much that is physically possible, including ignoring the call of nature to keep one's place in line.  7:00 am, however, was already too late.  I was number forty something in line, but I decided to wait out the three hours until opening time just for the "fun" of it, as I observed that the line was still growing behind me.  If I was wasting my time, I could take comfort in the fact that I was not alone.  We all shared in the common experience of inhaling bus fumes, hearing the amplified campaign harangue of the Communist Party's local dogcatcher candidate and enjoying a case of sunburn as the shade provided by the surrounding buildings slowly disappeared.

  When 9:30 rolled around, 24 tickets were passed out as promised, but the rest of us farther back in the line were not left without hope, thank goodness.  We were told that the first 24 tickets were for the right to purchase the special edition red hair version of the Blythe doll replica, and that a limited number of the rest of us could place a prepaid order for the blond version of the doll, to be delivered to us via the mail sometime in late June.  Delighted to know that I had not waited in vain, I stood in line inside the store for another hour waiting to have my order processed, but I was not complaining.

  When finally guided to the second floor temporary "Blythe Shop" (a small counter with a single cash register) that was set up inside the store, I was quite surprised at the limited supply of goods for sale.  There were only seven t-shirts and a mere 10 sets of stickers, all of which were sold out by the time I got to the counter.  There were still phone straps and post card books available, but I imagine that these did not last long, either.

  eBay vintage Blythe prices continue to run high, but not as high as in Japan.  I went to check out a rumor of a vintage Blythe for sale at a hobby shop here, and found that the price tag on the doll was $2,400, and with no box yet!  She did NOT come home with me.  I guess that Japan really has gone crazy over Blythe.

  When I finally got back home after placing my replica order, I was again delighted to find that a Blythe doll that I had purchased on eBay had arrived.  She was about $130 cheap because she is a semibald haircut victim, but we love her anyway. I cannot say when my replica will be delivered, but I will send a picture of her when she arrives.  I can also find out if Chofu now has a communist dogcatcher.

  Later Update! Replica arrives!!  Ain’t she cute?

  

  

  

  

  Vintage and Replica

  2008 update:  Blythe is still very popular in Japan, and several repro versions have been on the market in two sizes, standard and "petit."  She is no longer difficult to find, but on the average has a $100 price tag.  I know of four places where she is readily available here in Fukuoka.  The present versions of Blythe are no longer made with Licca's body, but are closer to the vintage body.

  • 07:45
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