Dissecting Japan's hit products of 2020

Early one morning at the beginning of December, I rushed to the nearest newsstand to purchase a copy of the Nikkei Marketing Journal. It was somehow reassuring once again to see, emblazoned atop page one, the publication's traditional sumo-style banzuke (ranking sheet) -- a layout virtually unchanged since 1971 -- listing Japan's top-selling hit products of 2020. Before dissecting the 2020 rankings, it's worth examining how this annual list began. The 1970s marked the time when discerning consumers in Japan began showing a preference for greater variety. Prior to that time, manufacturers had been content to sell their rice cookers, washing machines, TV sets and other mass-produced household items by appealing mainly through brand affinity.