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Virtual Pet Craze Sweeps Japan

TOKYO - Japan, a land famed for sudden fads, has a new craze -- the
virtual pet.

The new object of consumer desire is the latest in high-tech "cuteness"
-- an electronic bird creature the size of an egg that has sold out
everywhere and is now only available on the street at more than 20 times
its retail price of $16.

You can feed it, stroke it, carry it in your pocket and even take it to
the bathroom -- all with the push of a button.

But watch out, if you don't care for your "tamagocchi" -- the Japanese
word for "lovable egg" -- your pet will die before your eyes and before
its time.

"We've sold 350,000, far beyond expectations because our target range for
customers wasn't wide enough," said Tomio Motofu, spokeswoman for Japanese
toymaker Bandai.

"It's not just high-school girls who are buying them, but primary school
kids, office secretaries and middle-aged men," she told Reuters.

The tamagocchi starts life as an endearing, bird-like image on the screen
of an egg-shaped keyring device. It changes from a chick to a fully grown
adult in around 10 days.

However, the owner must feed, groom and soothe the digital creature or
else see it waste away and die from neglect.

The owner may choose to feed the creature digital sweets or food and enjoy
its sounds of delight, or "play" with it by pressing buttons in response
to the creature's movements.

"In the beginning, I thought it would be just a bother to look after it
but it eats food and sweets and you can play with it," a middle-aged woman
said.

"And when you clean up its droppings, it jumps up and down and looks
really happy. So you stop thinking of it as just a picture," she added.

Psychologist Takahashi Tomita believes the action of caring for one's own
lovable, pocket-sized pet responds to a deep, instinctive need not
satisfied in modern Japan's urban society.

"Everyone has what is called an 'emotional demand', that is the instinct
to pour our emotion into someone or to smother something with our
affection," Tomita told Reuters.

"This instinctual desire is not being satisfied nowadays as most people
living in the city can't have pets."

A high school girl told a television interviewer she feels the toy is
teaching her traits useful for later life.

"It's great because it teaches me to be a parent," she said.

"I paid 50,000 yen ($420) for mine. It's supposed to sell for 1,980, but
the shops are all sold out," said a middle-aged office worker.

Bandai's Motofu said the firm sold the 350,000 tamagocchis in just 38 days
since the Nov. 23 launch and expects to sell several million by March.

"We are increasing production," she said. "We can't keep up with demand."

Motofu's advice to virtual pet owners was to suspend reality and think of
their pets as real creatures.

"It's not a game. You're looking after a space creature whose lifespan
depends on how you care for it," she said.

Copyright, Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved