Japanese doll ‘Licca-chan’ turns 50
Fifty years on, Japan’s beloved dress-up doll “Licca-chan” continues to captivate fans, with a new exhibit in Tokyo a reminder of how the doll has grown from being a mere toy to reflecting changes in contemporary fashion.
Commemorating the birth of Licca-chan, often touted as Japan’s equivalent of Barbie dolls, an exhibit opened in the Ginza district of the capital on Wednesday and will run through April 3. Similar exhibits will subsequently be held across the country.
The Tokyo exhibit at the Matsuya Ginza store showcases 580 dolls from the original to current versions of Licca-chan, her family members and friends. Items such as notes showing how the doll was created and dollhouses exemplifying the times are also on display.
Licca-chan was introduced in 1967 by a toymaker now known as Tomy as a petite doll to fit into the modest homes in Japan, in contrast to the mainstream, large foreign-made dolls of the time.
The iconic doll is in the form of an 11-year-old, fifth-grade schoolgirl named Licca Kayama, fondly called Licca-chan, a suffix in Japanese denoting endearment usually to a baby or young girl. Her world came with dollhouses and accessories that helped create a fantasy lifestyle for many girls at the time.
The first version of Licca-chan mirrored Japan, when it was enjoying an economic boom and mired in a work-centred culture. It was packaged as having a Japanese mother, a fashion designer, while her father was unaccounted for.
With an appearance and fashionable clothes often seen in young girls’ comic books, Licca-chan immediately won the hearts of girls and has continued to do so through the decades.
She is now in her fourth version that was created in 1987. Two years later, the producers finally introduced Licca-chan’s father, a French musician, to reflect the change in times with heightened interest in Japanese society.
The number of Licca-chan’s siblings grew and the father was portrayed as taking on a more active role in parenting such as by taking a paternal leave.
Rika Izumi, a 30-year-old woman who visited the exhibit with her mother, was one such fan. “We had the same name, and as I always received one as a gift from my mother when I was little, it has endeared itself to me,” said Izumi, who lives in Tokyo.