Why modern Japanese are obsessed with rubber bands and created a cult of erasers

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Japan is a country of advanced technologies, however, despite the fact that automation rules everywhere here, people's love for a simple eraser and pencil has not faded away. Moreover, erasers in this country have recently been elevated to a cult. Many Japanese people, regardless of age, are obsessed with collecting rubber bands. Of course, not ordinary square ones, but thematic ones - in the form of cars, cakes, dinosaurs, school bags and other interesting objects. There is even a whole factory in the country for the production of such collections.

A small factory located in the Japanese city of Yashio, perhaps the most important erasers manufacturing company, with no serious competitors in this business. The work is in full swing 24 hours a day. The factory churns out 200-250 thousand rubber bands a day, producing miniature copies of cars, fruits, animals, musical instruments and more. After all, all these cute (and, by the way, cheap) erasers are actively bought up not only by children, but also by adults. Respectable uncles and aunts keep their collections at home and in the evenings, after work, take out and sort them in their hands, nostalgic for childhood, for school, for those times when there was no computer, but only a notebook, an eraser and a pencil.

It is also very interesting that all these rubber bands can be disassembled. For example, an airplane consists of wings, a fuselage and other realistic details, and from an eraser-sushi (in Japanese - sushi), you can remove the nori wrapper and get the filling-fish out of the rice.

Sushi erasers are a special topic in general. The Japanese love to collect them most of all. These copies are so skillfully made that they cannot be distinguished from real sushi. They look just as attractive and appetizing - perhaps too tiny. Such erasers are the perfect hit in a country where the cult of such food has existed for a long time. High school kids even have a joke saying: if you didn't have enough lunch or forgot it at home, draw nori with rice, and then wipe it off - as if you ate it.

The company, which makes themed erasers in Japan, was founded back in 1968. Did its creator Iwasaki Yoshikazu know in those distant times that his products would become so popular? And how did it even occur to him to make a business on this particular stationery?

In his youth, Iwasaki worked for many years as an apprentice in a stationery wholesale company. So I got hooked on this topic.

First, he took up the production of plastic pencil cases and his "factory" was a small rented room, where he was engaged in production. But the pencil cases did not sell very well. After the pencil cases, Iwasaki decided to produce pencil caps.

- This time I was lucky, and at first the caps were really actively sold. However, then mechanical pencils became widespread, and the caps became very cheap. And they stopped taking them altogether, '' Yoshikazu recalls.

The Japanese needed to come up with something new - such that it would certainly go off. And he decided to make "funny erasers". The factory started producing them in 1988. This is how the first thematic series appeared - in the form of vegetables. The buyer was offered miniature carrots, radishes, sweet potatoes, turnips. It would seem that this is so cool, but none of the wholesalers dared to take strange erasers for implementation. Disappointed with this idea, the director of the factory stopped producing erasers and vegetables. And suddenly one familiar wholesale company offered to start this topic again. Yoshikazu decided to take a chance. The thematic series of rubber bands was released again, the wholesaler began to actively advertise them, and suddenly, completely unexpectedly, vegetable erasers made a splash. They were sold out instantly.

Then the factory began to produce other thematic series - for example, fruit and transport. Since then, the themes of "funny erasers" have become more and more diverse. Now customers are offered 450 types of collections.

Erasers from the Iwasaki factory sell for as little as ¥ 50 apiece, and for the factory manager, this is fundamental: the products must be cheap so that any child can buy them. Such a low price is due to the fact that almost the entire process of making erasers is carried out directly by the factory. Usually Yoshikazu himself explains to the designer what he wants the eraser to look like (size, number of parts, etc.). Based on his wishes, a sample is made, and after the approval of the factory director, metal molds are made for parts.

Erasers made at the factory are delivered to the homes of local residents. Housewives, for whom the issue of earnings is always relevant, are happy to collect ready-made eraser bands from these parts.

Interestingly, the factory is not planning to release erasers with anime characters. As Iwasaki explains, the popularity of anime in Japan is gradually dwindling, and the goal of his venture is to always remain in trend. This is the only way to fuel the Japanese interest in these intricate office supplies.

It is especially popular to collect thematic collections from Japanese schoolchildren. Moreover, this fashion has embraced not only boys, but also girls, who, for example, are happy to collect baseball-themed erasers, because this sport is now very popular in Japan.

- I think this is a wonderful hobby! - a friend of Tokyo says about the fashion for erasers. If before the eraser was a common consumable and the embodiment of "wear and tear", now it is the embodiment of a collector's dream. For example, I am a numismatist, and although I don’t collect erasers yet (unlike my teenage son), I can’t wait for the series to be released in the form of coins. I would definitely buy this one!

By the way, a Japanese designer (user Y) tweeted his own designs for erasers. For example, rice onigiri or a lifebuoy that you can insert a spoon into when you eat your soup (so you don't drown).

Speaking of food. Fans of Japanese cuisine will certainly be interested to know that one day The 93-year-old holder of three Michelin stars has revealed the secret of the world's best sushi.