02 ) Fierce Fuesie thet sold profitably and sdaround wularly around the world in the ate 1990s. Simi - Spun wfomation th ne tree amas hoes tion and attendance (es in raising virtual pets that engender a play of interact pet) rather than identification. How, why, and with what implications such 1 fantasy construction from Japan became a global fad on the eve of the: Jennium are the questions I ask there. 6 Tamagotchi The Prosthetics of Presence Congratulations! This i a very special day for you because you now have your very on Tamagotchi! And jus like you, your ‘Tamagotchi needs some very special care to grow up into something you can be proud of-—something that's nice and wel behaved and won't embarrass you in front of your friends. That would be terrible. One thing to remember, more than anything el close attention to your Tamagotchi. The more you. fori the better it wil grow up and che longer Being a caretaker to your Tamagotchi is an adve to remember for the rst of your life. From Tamagotchi: The Official Care Guide and Record Book (Betz 39977. 8) From Heroes to Pets: Raising a Portable Plaything At the peak of its popularity in the late 19905, the famagotchi was called “the world’s most popular toy” (Berfild 2997:35), a “sensation around the world” (WuDunn 1997:17], the “current craze” (Clyde 1998:34), and the “next Japanese gadger to sweep the continent” (Pollack 1997-37) An egg shaped device that hangs ona key holder, the tamagotchi is a portable game with aliquid crystal screen whose purpose is to raise virtual pers. Targeted fis eight-year-old, the electronic play pal took off with teenage girls and adults when it was launched in Japan in December 1996, With its *ossover appeal and multiple functions—a toy that is simultaneously pet, ‘get, game, fashion accessory, and virtual reality—the tamagoichi sold (utin Japenese stores only days after hitting the market. Saving Bandai, ies manufacturer, from a slump in toy sales, the product became a hit both at home and abroad, where it was exported much more quickly than earlier ‘saves of Japanese kid properties had been.? (The lag time was only five months for its debut in the United States for example, in contrast to three years for Sailor Moon and eight years for Power Rangers) Hitting the US.Be TAmAcoret / 165 narketplace at FAO Schwartz in May 1997, thirty thousand tamag items were sold in three days, and three million were sold in three months? By May of the following year, he game was selling in more than eighty countries and had produced revenues of more than $260 million. ‘The tamagotchi also gen range of shapes—from dinosaurs, gods, and babi dogs—marketed by a host of companies (F Casio, Playmates, PF Magic). The medium migrate petdom spread to computer software, televiston games, and cll _steazest innovations in what th re Leumi they call the to fish, chimps, and tronies, Sega, garded as the ur-form. Ifnot the first virtual pet which this cyborgian fantasy was popularized and (re)produced as mass cul- me Karaoke is far more than @ “hard” medium for expressive cult os sive culture (the personal and interpersonal s 'g6) but also a technological advance that enacts, erodis nd spate expresses this culture. The word means ef n ee ey Ihe wer eens empty fin ore a) a technology. It is not only a a young bos, pack- Asan animal lover himself (with an apartment and af says two aspects of the scene touched him: the bo mobility of flesh-and-blood animals. Yokoi id travel everywhere with kids is reminiscent of Morita ‘New York and wishing he could « radio, ecord player, or his, Morita was possessed by a vision of mote music. Like Yokoi, he was driven to create a machine thet could move along with its owner’ Portability was key in both cass, as reflected inthe product Walkman and “watch” in tamagotchi (the atch from eggs, tarango, that woul! ‘movement, in tis ege of ax and in persor bese nan holder plays m body” (Hosokawa to specific places and times. In the case of virtual petdons ‘ess moves out of the home into a space that is more uid yet coined tally, more grounded as well—a honcheld egg with a digital screen that od in the pocket or backpack or on the key chain ofits owner like prosthesis. The Wal iusic and listens to the sound come from his ows intimacies of music onto the geography of bodytes / tawasorcHs and place is the great innovation of the Walkman and karaoke. It suggests @ reconfiguration of not only body and space bat also s Deleuze has called the “singularity” of the postmodern subject from the individual, is “anonymous, impersonal, adic” Plugged into technology like the Walkman, nect to their environment (and other ce" (Hosokawa 1984:169-70), crue of the tamagotchi, though a different aspect of experience or performance, a pe aligned here. Whereas music isan expe pei is as itis conventionally conceived, is « living organism —usually an animal appeal, is the uncanny sense of epeatedly comment on how their tamagotchi feel “rs iff they were “actual pets.” Much li this cave, of having a pet thar Yokoi Aki copa his descriptions of 1g tamagotchi. The physical appearance of the pet is. pra than the personal relationship one forms with it. As Yokoi claims fr i ‘own experience, cuteness matters most when a person frst buys a pet. Af that, bond is formed mainly by taking care of the organism: endless chores and duties {mendé) that Yokoi implanted in @ game sequence meant fo mic those involved in the raising of a flesh-and-blood pet (Yokoi a. ing buttons on the toy and icons on the screen, & ‘ res (for food, play dst- layer attends to her tamagotchi’s needs and desi pine med io, nd poop clamp), sorting how atetely the player flows hiss the tmagoth “grows wp” asuming one several possible forms (some more desirable than othets, according to information that accompanies the toy). But the player needs to be con stantly vigilant. And these menial labors constitate play in the context the agi: wha ge De othe wa nd i bonds formed between people and their machines/tamagotchi “This playscape differs from the imaginary realms [ have been exploring in the two previous chapters: stories of superheroes who look hunnan and] fight as moral warriors against evil that are enscripted in mass-mediap dren's magazines, comic books), With far whose characters are not recycled from a and a marked the Power Ranger series and Sailor Moon, ant strategy whose payoff was beginning todimiaish by 1996, Yokoi Akihiro: eo the virtual pet and intimacy to the EE Tawacorca: / 167 ‘out to design a new kind of toy, and, indeed, the corporeality of the tama- g0tchi characters is different altogether from the mecha (male) Rangers and fleshy (female) Scouts. After an intial empry screen, the tamagotchi’s in Karaoke, in response to a player's input. The likeness is skeechy even when the per has fully matured: as ‘head on two feet, a flower, with eyes and beak, in a pot Th are neither humans nor heroes, and the shapes they assume are meant to be weird. This makes ther more interesting to children, according to Yokoi (1997385), who aimed to design “strange living beings" (henna ikimono): a queer (and postgender) subset, as it were, of phenomenal life ‘This isthe cybongian frontier that we have encountered already in mor hing superheroes who shift from human to machine mode with bodies that transform and translate into weapons/vehicles/robots/jewels. With the ta- rnagotchi, though, the interface has shifted, Because the cyborgs here are Pets rather than heroic humans, they invite an imaginary relationship other than identification. Further, che materiality of the image is different. Rether than being pregiven forms projected onto a television screen or comic book age, the tomagotchi result fom an interactive game held and adjusted by including “ ig the homeland (and friends) by destroying aliens bent on conquest and change. Tamagotchi, by contrast, are a strange new e-form designed to be the virtual pets of their owners, The mytho-play ing cote pets), and from humanism (protecting earth and humanity) 0 the poschuman (suturing attachments to digital icons). A different logic — and fetishization—of bodies, powers, and the hurman-nonhuman contact gone is at work in the tamagotchi, reflecting, and refracting, something Aifferene in the world che imagination (with which to play and escape “re- ality"), and global marketability. For the child player, the characters invice a ‘eationship not of mimesis (mimicking the morphin stances and performna- {ivitysexiness of the superheroes) but of ownership, caregiving, and pet dorm Permeable Borders: Widening the Fan Base Tee tamagotchi is ofting toy for the past-cold war era ofthe new mllen- sum. This sa world in which clear-cut divisions between friend and enemyTamasorowr ¢ 189 aes) Tauscorcn i no longer exist. Borders are more permeable than permanent, and identity 1, gender, oF race—is difficult to anchor in any one spar. tsmagotchi game, forging elliances between self and other is emphasized over distinguishing (and defending) these as bounded is: And this interface becomes a play zone: one that represents postin dustrial confusion as much as fusion in connections between organism and anachine, human and pet labor and are resented according to the rules of fantasy, not realism. Drawn as ironic, Iconic sketches the lines ae recogezable but assembled with syntax that is both disorienting and enchanting —a rose with eyes and feet, ahead with poochy lips anda sen about cyborgs, there i progressive potenti iterating odie from nue sen used ideological sn power and privilege to bodies of only certain Seed o trying to assure such liberation to in the following chapters on Pokémon. er case, launching these Properties in a global marketplace has been dictated by American prod tions and tastes and involves major issues around cultural tran transformation. ‘Such has not been the case, however, with the tamagot figures body and place very differently. Tamagot other than human; they grow up in a world dete graphic place. The only context here i that of cyber interact the biolog whether: al toy that con- are not only something construction, of course, since cleaning ip poop is hardly hardwired into the care of animals around the world. Yer whatever of “culture” is at work here is far less overt than the case of morphing superheroes. Virtually biologic (or bi vie~ he tamagotel: realizes Bandai’s corporate policy for the late 19905: that “transcends time and space, and goes beyond tational boundaries” (Bandai Kabushikigaisha 1998:5). The company’s aim, both i the products it zells and in the markets i sells to, isto stretch bor. ders, Because its business of character merchandising “depends on knowing to which specific groups a particular characteris likely to apped appeal to as broad a consumer base as possible. In its conporate guide for x997, Bandai uses the tamago _ sxample of this very principle, Targeted first to senior high school Japan i attracted a mich wider fan base in both the domestic and global __ marketplace than previous products. As Bandai says proudly: “These char- acters have now become the close friends of many; many people” Inthe form of this virtual “friend,” Bandai has come up with a toy com- modity that has transcended national boundaries with remarkable ease, In doing so, che tamagotchi reflects shifts in the way place both figures in and ‘beonfigured as entertainment in global kids’ trends. The place of Japan has rater prestige in the economy of the imagination these days, challenging {@s other counties have) che hegemony once held by US. culture and ies ‘altural industries Yer the construction of place itself as it is imaged and Jnagined in commodified play is changing as well. In an era of space-time : nsified speed, movement between borders of various indy communication and travel across time—the parameters of place be- ome fuzzy. But this does not mean that place no longer matters in how people experience the world. Rather, homes and intimacies remain im ‘nt even when their mapping and mooring. ‘geographer Doreen Massey to redefine place in terms other than rigid Tounibaries or unique identities is relevant here: “What gives place speci- up with a toy that fea 40 be Hollywood's cachet in entertainunent (ps vision) ‘As will be recalled, Banda’s experiences with marketing Power Rangers ‘Moon in the United States were fraught with diffi eight years, and when Fox Ne fon for acceptance was tad= ly fil, but also tele- ical reconstruction. Only after ‘human, premorphed forms had been reshot with American actors in Cali- fornia (and shen spliced together withthe action Foe rom Jpn) ws jer Rangers reborn in hybrid form. The assumption, by the American Ceeee gud fen would not identify with difference, including th how's origins in Japan, was effaced for US, transmi its Americen rather ven that Jobal hit. Soilor Moon was a somewhat different case, given d tedium wes animation rather thn ive action, a fact that mage aeration of the images more 7 # characters could pass as Anglo-American. : and dramatic nig the show is commonly atesed by thoze nt business—was too litle aleered for American audiences to succeed in channels of mainstream kids’ TV, though it did fine in other courtrieslikt France, Spain, and Hong Kong and generated plenty of American fans whet it was broadcast on Cartoon Network, (This discrepancy is an issue lrSSCS SESS SES neta tere n ee rere cas scascieneeeeereseeeees--—-—- aro / Tawagorcur tawagoron) / 73 ficity is not some long out of a particular con: ar locus” (s994:154). Place is held together at both junctures by what Massey “The idea of petdom, even when it amounts to a virtual creation, engen- ders relations and interactions, In Massey's sense, then, the tamagotc isa new kind of place thar produces new sets of relationships—global commod- ity Bows, postindustrial kids’ trends, mobile and imaginary attachments Both its power and its appeal come from combining movement groundedness of ip—a convenient pal, portable intimacy, travel- Ing pet. How does this contradictory mix work in pract The temagot Japanese) sold for about eighteen dollars in stores and came in various colors and styles. These in- cluded a proliferation of species—angels dinosaurs, chickens, ocean and for ese creatures—and, to tweak this nurturing toy more toward boys, the Di mon version, featuring monsters thar can be hooked up to a bude! digimonchi (what the Digimon tamagotchi is called) to fighe in what is called the “dock ‘n rock” function’ To start the taniagotchi, the player presses the reset button on the back, adjusts the time, and pushes the middle (one of three buttons on the bottom (figure 28). Immediately a pulsating 33 names, and distinctive clive propery of Bands Company Land Banda Ames Incorporated, Licensed by Bandai Entertainment Incorporated Al rights reserved } and beeps from the tamagotchi indicating that it needs something or as rmagotchi indicating that it ne ig that it ching or, as the Asa game, the basic routine is as fall ssa ny the player seeds oimesc ready wih thee ee ane ularly with the toy by ke et happy and healthy. How wel che ta piace ati well he tamagotchiis doing can be deter by reading the health meter, which displays its cursene nel fae ce day in tarnagotchi ti rime cquals one year of earth time), as well as threes _Reaeng how hap, sd and disciplined the et is. Each tac seren as four hearts that indicate an optimal situation when they are : ue and encroaching danger when they are empty. To keep the heer ie abe: fads the pet by doing out meals or snack disciplines it by ly pressing the discipline icon; and gives love and stimulation by play- Hames (the player guesses whether the taragotchis going to tum wh atthe play mode and muse win three out of ive guesses to core ered 8 for playtime). In addition to these regular interactions, there ave also ‘worldwide. In she English-language offical Band: phonetic rendering in parentheses—for example, takorchi tamatchi (tama-tchee), and kuchitamacki (koo-chee-ta-ma-tches ‘on the screen now are the all-important caretaking icons: sya standing for the pets needs, the player must attend co in order t0 happy and healthy tamagotchi. A fork and knife signifies food, for exany and a rubber ducky stands for cleaning up poop. Altogether the player through games); medicine {given when the tamagotchi get 1g (the follow-up t0 2 pong, ‘which appears as a Hershey chocolate kiss on the screen); the health mem that registers how happy and healthy icipline (administered by pushing a button); and attention there are also72 / samacorent tent demands. These include remembering leep, administering medicine caregiver. ne plays according to the official direc- wve as long as possible and co raise a pet keeping en iscipline and jie your Tamagotchi you're successful, ngs 1 parenting is measured ough differ about one hour af iggest lax parenting, about six or seven day: roadened further. Masw everyone; ginjirotchi is empathetic and indepen and heavy metal; sedand Seuchipatc is laid-back ane - pa ‘and Zachi are “secret char sand independenc eeousness, dullness and weindnesara y ransacoren! lay log a direct correlation is made between “good” caretaking and posi- ed ee tamagoich, The guide applauds, for example, the appearance of ‘Mametchi, who boasts an 10 of 250, saying it “shows that you've really paid ‘alot of attention to your Tamagotchi” (Betz 1997:43). Bur, for Takarotchi— with smelly feet and a mysterious person et ‘you have been jour Tamagotchi, it may turn out like thi eee ratarpernein apne lion fe Bad ie : i designed like the health a ‘he ideological in imaginar tain your own Beat as mother never ivonionall il your pe no a ter how it develops, cemember that all tamagotcht are brothers and siste : so never mistreat one). The guidebook concludes with a list of parental ideals whose scope has been broadened even further: raising tamagotehi swith a social consciousness. As the guide recommends, bring tamagotchi vp tas “members of society” to be individualistic but also cooperative, with @ of nature, science the arts, and morality. The is raised by joining love with g vill be able to contribute to human (Bendai Kabushikigaisha 1997:1-9 ‘One might wonder to what "as citizenship, given the very global te playscape The suggestion some prc e ve never encountered a player of any national ‘al identity of tamagotchi to be anything approaching that of upstanding citizen. Yer the fantasy ofa bond developing between tamagotchi and playes to mimic human life completely is not. that feels humantike even if roa alone, One commentator reporting on the tamagotchi craze oo A ced some of the intensity taageet owns J for he fact they serve as substitutes for real ea veer ving conlions ean afford (Beeld 2957). Ins Tated vein, Nagao Takeshi Japanese journalist inked the poploty ot toys ike tamagotchi and games like Pokémon to contemporary lifestyles Japanese children, who are lon y and pressured by school. toy can interact with when they are alone, and one from which they can gai tawasorcar / 475 some measure of feedback, response, andl—in these senses—life, is highly appealing (Nageo 1998). ber of psychologists in the United Seates claimed instead that the of tamagoichi arose from the sense of empowerment they gave in being responsible for the care and fate of their virtual pets ld x997). This perception also led to a debate about whether these positive feelings outweigh the sense of loss experienced by some children When the tamagotchi dies (Lee 1997:264). On bath scores the psychologist Andrew Cohen described the tamagotchias “the most power! ever heard of in terms of whar it demands from a child” 3997:Ax8). Others also viewed the famagotch as a type of breakthrough product that builds on old play forms of mimesis and pretense but propels these kinds of experience into the new dimension of cyberspace. Here the relationship with 2 virtual pet can be, in some ways, more interactive and ‘more continuous than with flesh-and-blood pets that stay, for the most part, athome. Tamagotchi accompanied their owners everywhere—a fact much seported on because of the disruptions caused in the classroom, where the beeps and demands of needy tamagotchi led to a widespread ban (in Japan, the United States, and many countries where the toy was a fad) on their presence in school. Even here, though, a number of teachers and pavents found the caretaking demanded of the tamagotchi and the nurturing it therefore elicits to be positive play qualities encouraged by the ‘The type of intimacy children formed with a tamagotchi was healthy in ‘another way, according to Heather Kelley (1998), director of o ‘opment for GirlGames (a company that makes video games for gi -_aate taken by children in raising their digital pets encouraged a degree of petsonalization and emotional closeness with cybertechnology previously nseen with kids. Here the mode of operation is nurturance, in contrast £0 the more competitive stance demanded by fighting and action that is the prevailing motif in the bulk of video games even today. This focus draws in more gils to an electronic game field still dominated (in the United States, 3st) by males." The tamagotchi is also a toy that not only stands in for __buralso bleeds into other social relationships. in the voluminous response Kelley received to a posting about tamagotchi on hex Web ste for girls, ‘any spoke of the toy in terms of relationships with parents or friends, Whether they were leaving a pet ice, oF sharing pet-raising experiences, there were numerous stories rmagotchi as a medium for interpersonal relations between humans. Jn the end. no matter how diligent a player has been or what kind of re- the care of friend or family, swappingArey rauacorcer rmed, the tamagotchi is erminated—o: period of li can occur in Jess than a cleaned. As the tamagot magotchi long enough that they die, The average life teen days the record, reputedly fifty-nine days, was set by England (Clyde 1998). When the end comes, itis signaled by a gravestone and cross inthe Japanese version (using ‘Western symbols that may serve to mark the virtual, playful rendering of Because virtual death was thought to be too traumatic for however, this finale was rescripted for the U.S. edition. In- stead of passing from are sid to pass toa different world— an alien planet—marked on the screen by an angel with wings (incorpora ing comfortable a will ignore thei world have “played” with this host of virtual memorials—obituaries, graveyards, funerals and testimont- als—printed mainly over the Web but even in obituaries published in regu: lar newspapers. There are reports, as well, of tantagotchi mourning coun- seiots, Another twist to the death routine is that some users purposely try to kill off their tamagotchi, « practice thar has sprouted chat room sites, and user groups devoted (both for and against) to the issue of sadism against tamagotchi (Berfield 1997), Resonant wi tamagotchi can also be restarted after it has died. Ifthe player pushes the reset button on the back, another egg appears, and the whole life cyele be gins again. Until the ba though most users Then the plastic egg on a key chain that decorates @ backpack, holds a key, or ssi shoved to the back of a drawer. ‘Sociality and the New Work of the Imagination ments These are che 1 and reproduce the world by is age of replaceable parts and flexible accumulation, the : a eraey magotchi becomes less a pet than an objects sand artic Hlod-red PEE Hee eee ccc Tawasorom 7 222 {oct ofcourse, the images formed are digital rather than me game plays withthe same bordersas does the mogina ‘teens image, not in and of itself material is between an " and a phenomenal existence th the boundaries ofthe imag- realty we inhabit: one in which virtaal- {Crp becoming increasingly integrated into everyday lfeand movement of wrk People and things i rapid and intense The anthropologice Arjun Ap- padara! has argued that conditions of deteritorialization and media prolif «ration have changed, and heightened, the work ofthe imagination today. 1 apply this thesis here tothe farnagote rua pet bh rel and shape an imagination that not only fits these postindustri se helps “ade adjust roa world where the border between the ima the real is s logic of imaginary and space. In Modernity at Large (2996), lay is charac fupure in recent times triggered by two separate but interrelated develop- of electronic media (technologies that represent lp steres and images) and the incre in migra 'e movement and displacement of people away from “home” « »omeplace else) Linked together, chese changes have produced a now anda, i work isto imaginatively do- urkheim analyzed Life (1962}—the rituals that rit ohysially brought together ‘expressed. The expression ies literal than symbolic the logic ofa place in highly imaginative terms: shaved hase ed tattoos, immersion in water While the meaning is abstract (ab, seating society inc riual), che experience is emotionally edsenca78 / rawacoren tense. Beating drums, chanting cheers, ingesting intoxicants—ceremonies are special, in both time and space, creating an atmosphere dislocated from. everyday routines. Given that the ceremonial is also socal, carried out by and for members ofthe community, the Feeling of hyperaliveness helps connect individuals to their society. These fights of the imagination, in fact, areas important for sustaining the social asi the materiality of pro- jon as @ group. Durkheim's great in- of continual downsizing, outsourcing, roboticization, and flexible accumula: tion, people are constantly driven, out of need or desire, to move and remake their jobs, identi social networks oceur frequen places of everyday life. Technology, too, is continually altering and reordes> ing the dimensions of human existence, remaking bodies and remapping the ‘ways in which people make a living and experience the world. As machines become eenbedded ever more deeply into life and even flesh, the line be ween human and nonhuman increasing! ions, comput sole played by imagination today. Justas the print media were a prerequisite for imagining the nation at the moment of modernity, as Benedict Anders {2985) has argued, electronic media produce the images that imagine com ‘munity, reality, nd ‘communities, will hold on to these places through the imaginaries med available by CNN, photographs, movies, and videotapes. As he points out these images—of the world, homeland, place, and ethnicity —are shaped muuch by desire and longing as they are by anything real. What Appadutas means by imagi @ vision of a life-form—a co Iuman, a pet-—that (eels real and is related to, bu is not the equiv material reality. How does this notion of imaginative “realness” paclura also depicts the more generic processes of imagination funda: to any socicty—the reframing and transcending of ordinary life by me today’s postmodern era. Appadurai gives thee ample of diasporic migrations—how people, displaced from their home IEEE: a rawacoren » a79 ‘of ritual and myth? Both 5 Processes entail reimaginin, distance, but the nature of this distance has sh ted Riel ails assem- ‘ered throughout the every attached to (diasporic communi fusion of the ima, ination int cally dispersed, aan ices disloca- i ‘ever before, The places where we materi the constructed spheres diy la ond wk spheres representing and imag- os) People, ideas, and things from different, shifting The imagination, in my reading of Appadura,is Sa sent of sodlty Ina werd reed de eae ith difference. Social stiture home, place, and form new kinds of ties wit ae also present. This duali alls schizophrenia (Jameson unlernism, as do Deleuze an Hence of capitalism today} ‘hes that are familiar and long-standing as wel ‘newt Thus imagination, as the mechanis £4984) uses the same word to refer id Gusttari [2977] in reference locating roots different, fragmented, ople use to ground them. therently schizophrenic as180) tAwacorens “Appadurai’s theory of the imagination provocatively links Laer ization tthe proliferation omg phenomena tat indeed care terize conditions of global capitalism—and posits (new) constructions for lapses under the term imagi- it is overly schematic, 100 and sketchy on the issues of subj xy and intersubjectivity: what he ion. There are also problems with hist orical ruptu rigid in its postulation of 2 historical rup ° and production (how precisely isthe imagination produced, by Sie cce vasa cima I ishis for charged force ed be wat I find extremely useful here. For this tween groundedness and mobility th: is the rubric of the tamagoichi: a pet that goes virtually anywhere but ‘whose existence is rooted in, and mimetic of, corporeal upkeep. Evocative Objects and Labor.Intensive Toys In the tamagotchi, imaginary petdom is coupled with the banality of dean~ ing up poop, dispensing food, and turning off lights. When servers called ita new kind of toy because ofits admixture of inprecedented, according to some, inane a caregiving so intense to be unp cybertechnology better known for saving labor and enkancing human pow cally confused as Indeed, Bandai rejected the concept . swhelmed by the menial chores it entailed (WuDunn 1997). Yet tamagotchi succeeded and became immensely popular as a playtoy that transforms duty and responsibilty into enchantment and entertain ment. For whom, how and why is a as work compelling? over), and adults of any age a eal to teenage giels, were also popular with young working women and ‘even savariman).? What fans said they liked about the famagotchi is that it feels more serious, meaningful, and real w them than other toys do. It “re: ally alive,” a ten-year-old American girl said, “This pla me 1e player’ life” @ reporter for the japanese magazine Dime noted after a ive for close wo three days. In reporting on the “i ‘a tamagotchi was on Japanese TV, answered that it was: ee eee eee +997:420). In his explanation of the toy’s magically earthy appeal, because the pleasures of the toy seemed t00 over ‘ent of, but also not exactly personality as well thei Imaginatively playful: intelligence coupled with s along with a craving for café mocha. And in terms kind tha grounds tronic game set, run by a battery and programmed by di to be interactive. And che mode of interact “only asf their tamagotchi were Nee eee cer E TESTE arate ccapunrererereeee<_. Tawacorens / 103 porter noted that tamagotchi imagination snd real ‘ment media (movies, mobility Imaginary pets go almost everywhere inserting themselves into a child's Sreryday routines and continually asserting their presence by demanding, over and over attention and play. This, ofcourse, can get boring or burden ever, detachment comes as ea ‘once did. A number of kids Interviewed said they pain in seeing their pets leave the screen. A few in fact, sid this was part of the fem clne® ‘tating a source of work and annoyance even if this was a “pet” to which they had once teen deeply tached. One rowdy zen-yearold American boy went further by announcing, “ love killing off my tamagotchi” an ath ‘mission that seemingly fazed none of the other kide assembled in my inter. ‘ew group” Ta this sense, amagotchi fluctuate between presence and ab. fence the player shifts between engaging the virtual pet as if it were alive and disengoging from iv as if t were dead, nothing but a machine adi aided plaything tobe put aside ina drawer (and retrieved when the tage o play reta players are in a space hovering between the and that while cis is also true of other entertain. me, TV), what distinguishes th ‘ontological realms—the mat and the elec- ronie world of cybernetic age making. In shape, tamagoichi are reminis- like, pets (such as cats and dogs) and plants, fa its combine behaviors at once humanlike and cycle, virtual pets ted as only machines lye and dic like oxganisms but can be reset and rest is human labor of the most mundane and meticulous the life oF virtual pet. Os to be more accurate, an elec. wa waginary construction that makes players feel not 've but also that their caregiving has life- iné-death implications. At one level, this is nothing more thas playing the duties and responsibilities of adults (pa rearing, Surely this the earliest and most universal rand-blood pet: an im482 / TaNagorews of children’s play (Goldman 1998; Sutton-Smith 1997). But what is “old- fashioned” here is propped onto a New Age media technology. This is « move that resembles what Freud called anaclisis: how one activity tuzns, and isa conduit, into another (such as a baby’s nursing on a mother’s breast that moves from feeding to also being an interbodi cal message encoded in Bandai's Tamagotchi B in Japan, the United States, and other marketplaces where it was @ fad, ‘tamagotchi has been praised for the attentiveness (t0 a dependent oth enscriptsin the play. The demands it places on players and the fact that these demands cannot be ignored atthe risk of “killing” one’s pet have also mat the tamagotchi a valuable pedagogical tol for it has been and social science clases in the United States) thesis, the imagination always refers ro a social body social referent, and why is labor (of such a caregiving sort} so critical 0 imagination? Making the toy labor-intensive from the minute it hatches ‘was part of Yoko's design, intended to make players attach immediately their "pets." Indeed, the first hour of the toy’s “existence” was made tohe tense, both in the care demanded by the newborn and in after is way the interfer between human and machine is modeled after birthing/taising a biologal organism: tamagotchi are“ the tamagotchi co foster this very sens pause button (which would allow play OB ’TSCS temporary relief from the demands of famagotchi would soon die “tension” would be pro in and emot Lael their pets) and inset th nd insisting that, if neg- On both scores, Yokoi believed players that would make were alive produces a the Appaduraian sense ‘machine).In the case ing “love" as would a ture, rath los/deah, indeed his own fantasy ith con en songide cts dogs and hamsters in pet stone ne Childcen I spoke who had been or were tamagor loseness they fele with these toys : yet lke «pet rock o action figur Sheng nk mind ofits own asic were, demanding reac "ty Tarkle (1994) has called eybertech stam) an “evocative object” because, i fans kepe men Some added that, the lamagatchi ion from its owner ‘ology (computers, MUD pro- ‘an be distinguished as an ob- deeply personal in users Be-sea / ramacorews for dependent. Any user will be familiar with this script from, at the very least, her own experience as a child. With the amager. isthe child doing to another what is us aura of control kids so often feel deprived of. This labor of, ceiving in ample, mentions the case remap other social situations as well. Yokoi, for example, ‘of a Japanese OL who, oppressed by her work situation and particularly an overbearing boss, 3s by taking tamagotchi breaks. As she de- scribes this pat the that conjoins the bodily wastes of woman and te- the imaginary limning of the real—the woman feels both needed and “healed.” Laughing out loud in hs sali all ‘woman is reanchored, through a fantasy of banality in what is at once a fight of fancy and a quotidian act of the most basic sort. At the end of the day she goes home on the rain with the pet riding i her pockes “My r= magotchi is with me all the time,” she gushes. “It relieves my loneliness’ (Yokoi 19972241) Body figures prominently here; the imagination is routed through bod- intimacies—of the taraagotchi accompanying the woman even into the and of the woman cleaning up the poop of her pet. Al thisis mediated, virtual reality is of being elsewhere even as a person stays, physi for transporting players to vistas less earthy then earthily divine—shiing in the Swiss Alps, deep-sea diving on the Great Barrier Reef —virtuality goes direction here. Rather than traversing imaginary distances ty the body—sleeping, ‘nating, These rudiments of bodily upkeep, though, In a world thar—because of movement, dispersal, and technologia- iris or feels increasingly groundiess, there isa desire to find grounding in soane semblance of place, community, and relationships ‘Walter Benjamin made a similar observation about the changes wrot by modernity; even as we turn to new media and machines to navigats 1 eee aere a ate taba EE RES CREEE EGGS EG e a a sasaapusurerereresecese.. shifting universe there isa tendency to return to (or take alang with us) the Stodgingly familiar in bodies, places, and myths. Thus, in the “attempt to ‘master the new experiences ofthe city inthe frame of the old ones of trad ffonal nature,” the first railroad cars were shaped like stagecoaches, and che gas fa in the case of the tarmagotchi ‘the most basic biology of bodily maintenance: che very needs and demands tha us long ago, make us human and represent the juncture ind this is ata moment atthe cyberfrontier when technol- 087 s increasingly liberating humans from the constrints of biological lif Sandy Stone (1995) has coined the word tokens to refer ta simular pro ‘ess in the practice of phone sex, in which workers try to reproduce the cen. sation of bodily ex acts through the very disembodied medium ofthe tele. phone, As she notes, phone sex tends to be intensely graphie precisely because there isa total absence of other bodily props. Bodies are thos in inatively evoked—described, visualized, narrativized, fantasized through tokens that stand in for, but also differ from ‘medium in which they are enacted), embodied sexuality. ather words, to an embodied construction of sexuality despite the fact that the condition for phone sex is the material absence of bodies altogether. To tens then lke fetishes, operate as both an absence anda presence referring ‘0 what is (not) there by imaginary devices that evoke (or construct) the his intermingling is what Appadurai would ca what Sherry Turkle (x958}, borrowing from Donna Haraway, has labeled _Srony’—the holding together of incompatible elements, real and imagi- rary that kids become fluent in today through the cybermedia that sure so much erpret it, a mere fusing liscrte identity of any one part—a pro more akin to what Jameson (2984) has ‘alle the pastiche effect of postmodern culture, Or, o speak from recent fends in children’s toys, the logic of transformation consists of a delight ‘olen in things being constantly in flux, uunsforming from one state into nother. Within these chains of body shifting, there is no one. 1 ay the refusal oTocate identity or authenticiy in one particular place — ‘human body over the morphed body, for instance, Both identities axeaes / rawagoron! equally present (though not at the same moment), with neither (nature/ar~ 1g the other. And what is and society are being tion, fragmented demand, sembled as they are disassembled and reassembled. Besides implanting tokens of biological life into virtual play, the tama- i does something else with bodies. ft becomes embedded within « yer’ everyday routines: from getting up in the morning and comm a work or school on the train to shopping for dinner and going tothe bath- room. In lives that are becoming increasingly mobile, nomadic machines like the ramagotchi become a person’s constant companion almost mare than anything outside the body itselé They fuse with, and offer distraction from, che intricacies and intimacies of daily existence. In this sense, rending to the “natural” needs of a virtual pet (con)fuses the tivo kinds of imagina- sion laid out by Appadurai. On the one hand, these are rituals of enchat ment that relieve, and reimagine, social everydayness. As kids often told playing five minutes with their tareagotchéin the midst of studying, school, dinner, or chores was a pleasant, even meaningful, break. (Parents and schoolteachers, by contrast, often viewed these breaks as disruptions, could make them feel “relied upon,” “important,” or “loved” when, se or in other contexts, such emotions n he tomagotchi and other toys, like Pokémon) have called a “space” of her own ‘This is an imaginary world chat kids can and do use for momentary divers also is one that is shared by an entire fandom of poy: temagotchi al ‘On the other hand, the taraagotchi not only provides « momentary s5- cape from the ordinary (as do ritual ceremonies demarcated, in ime and Fiosokawa (2984) has said about the Walkman, itis a bodily pr Iatter works not as an extension of the human body but as a (cebuilding the very parameters of the body and how they operates tainers of and for life). The sound comes from inside, not outside, the Wal rman user listening to her music. Thus, what is transmitted (in this 6 music) penetrates the skin, inverting the (modernist) mapping of body. Pores become portals incorporating, es much as opening toward, the world ‘outside. Bue unlike the Walkman, the tamagot ive, demanding, ge oF t001 thet fosters communication, Ee ramacoren + 267 inte fem a ower In this sense, a player must enter into the scree fet a eau does 8 singe inthe “empry orchestra” of karaoke—with sande ge eeine®, which merges with that of the machine. This is wha Stone als the ‘prosthetics of presence,” which, as she rightly pines for something ve “real gpa, thing else more “real” (1995:400). tof a (new kind of ve oF temporary this ‘partner,” and £88, activated and played by an he tamagote than does mass media/entertainment i which the proj ey rat 5 reaction. In our postmodern era of technol not hough seing or thinks oat m through mirroring) rics in chat rooms, Intern londo and others have noted, Rete ehosty than tnimetie—the ghostiness that adhe per se interactions in which “we” a tue of the tama lentifcation roday is es to images not of ppear as only a part otc, whose “sange agely “cue” and which opnont oy he a ook a ndent on the eres the player. Mimtchibuars the marks of werd eee eee88 / ransacoren TaMacorent / 188 Beyond Tamagotchi: Electronics Go Soft (and Sociality Goes Virtual) od off. By spring 1998, of the toys had been sold (twenty million in Japan and an al- the end ofthe year, however, sales had fall cerchandise and a loss to Bandai of 6 Figure 20, “E: Fight © 2004 Sony pad, users ca ‘fish with a screen, including Seamai aman face that talks about life). The big Ne hundred thousand AIBO had been sold worldwide. the market in 1997, the biggest 19508 ots (the Ranger sexes, the 29605, and “beet from the late 29705, n partner robots” represents a shi tonics 0 “sof-tronics” f body assernblage—showing -yborg/babe's powers—i isEEE ase / Tawasorc#! the same ins a not to con- fay struct the superhuman but to reconstruct the humanlike in "pet sob Performance is every bit as important here and is similarly mapped by tticate and intimate attention paid to circuitry. But the model of “ imagines is not a posthuman warrior (cybernetically endovved to supersede the other direction, is the mechanical a Not ‘uprising adults are increasingly becoming tl layers of sof-tronies Bondi, for example has 4 service ther inp nae sand saan sb wold “Lave by Mae sae a from make-bel the subscriber's 1 subscriber's Intern: or takes @ poop, invites huma one ofits newest toy products (ningenDOG = human dog], it has a “human th the national Japan cultural products, fac- dered (until recently) their globeli ding Fox Net. “Americanize” Power Rangers for US, broadcast doing well on the global marketplace exporting robotic petdom, both as actual prod play fashion, The New York Toy Fair in 2004, for example, was filled with electronic toys, and sales in the category of virtual robo-pets rose exponen tially from a mere $5 million in 2000 to $139 million the following yeas: ‘Techno-intimacy isa sign of the times. While mecha-tronics was the fan- tasy as well as national policy fo the country as a techno supernation—sof-troni fenation, and stress of corporatist ca panionship. What performativity exacts and extracts from citizens in the a ‘just in time” delivery soft robo-pals promise ro make up petda yyets hatch from ae ise a vital pes While incor we and companionship fostered in th i, Pokémon also shifts and extends its ic polymorphously perverse) play in sig is direction both for the global mar- ‘of Pokémon and for ction of fantasy it moment of millemn ‘up in the next chapter, al capitalism are the issues 1 (play) ware of a tamnagotc ansformational, ani way that technological reproduction gives back to humanity that capacity for experience which technological production threatens to take away (quoted in Buck-Morss 1997268} | ‘This would seem to be the answer, in part, to what kind of sociality’— in Appadurat’s sense—the taraagotchi serves to perates as a fetish bearing both an absence (a loss) anda presence been lost andis stil desired, and instruction and also for communication and companionship, Signi these devices are also said to be “healing” in rhetoric that asum: players are already wounded: psychically on edge, overworked, stressed ov Being rouched by another albeit a machine, is soothing: the s:imlatinn af social intercourseASIA: LOCAL STuDIES/GLORAL THEMES rey N. Wasserstrom, Robin es: Reader, edited by Susan Brownell and Joffrey N, Wasserstcom. chi se Visions of Family a State, 1945-1955, by Susaa L Hygienic Modernity: Me China, by Ruth Rogaski A History of Sport and Physical Cult by Andrew D. Morris 111, Vicarious Language: Gender and Linguistic Modernity i Japan, by ko Inoue 12 1: Information and Nation in the Early Modern Period, by Mary Elizabeth Berry 6 the Global Imagination, by ian and Consolation én Ha 14 dc Millennial Monsters Japanese Toys and the Global imagination ANNE ALLISON Foreword by GARY CROSS RB UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley Los Angeles Londan