Dollhouse

Anyone who’s had or been a child in the last 40 years will almost certainly recognize the inspiration for the dollhouse in Animal Crossing as シルバニアファミリー or, as we’ve called them in the United States, Sylvanian Families or Calico Critters. It was created back in 1985 by Japanese gaming company Epoch and has become an Empire in itself.

When I was shopping for my daughter, Calico Critters was a no-brainer: while American-made dolls tended to have cheap accessories made of brightly colored molded plastic, these toys had furniture, accessories, and even magazines and little products that looked exactly like the real thing. It, along with games like Animal Crossing, shows how the Japanese have been able to understand the details that make toys and games appealing to kids, as opposed to American corporations that are run by stuffy executives and lawyers.