This post is part of our series that looks at the tech gadgetry and geeky moments that went truly viral in Asia in 2014. Check out google.com/2014 for lists of the most popular searches around the world. Enjoy!
No, it’s not a smartwatch, exactly. But in Japan, even kids’ toys are entering the realm of wearables. This year was all about the Yo-kai Watch (妖怪ウォッチ), a hugely popular video game and animation that is a runaway hit with Japanese kids. The way Yokai Watch works is that kids have to get a watch and collect the little fictional monsters with their watches. It’s like Pokemon, but instead of battling it out with collectible cards, you have a much niftier piece of hardware.
Yokai Watch’s search popularity in Japan even beat that of Disney’s Frozen. Is Frozen’s moment in the land of the rising sun melting away?
Posted by Sakura Tominaga, Communications Manager, Google Japan
No, it’s not a smartwatch, exactly. But in Japan, even kids’ toys are entering the realm of wearables. This year was all about the Yo-kai Watch (妖怪ウォッチ), a hugely popular video game and animation that is a runaway hit with Japanese kids. The way Yokai Watch works is that kids have to get a watch and collect the little fictional monsters with their watches. It’s like Pokemon, but instead of battling it out with collectible cards, you have a much niftier piece of hardware.
Yokai Watch’s search popularity in Japan even beat that of Disney’s Frozen. Is Frozen’s moment in the land of the rising sun melting away?
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| Yokai Watch (red line) enjoys a sustained high volume of searches; Pokemon (blue line) had a quiet year but suddenly spiked in popularity; Frozen (yellow line)’s search popularity is declining slowly. |
Posted by Sakura Tominaga, Communications Manager, Google Japan
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