Abstract
As an unprecedented phenomenon that might characterize new relations between people and domestic artifacts, a craze for a toy doll was analyzed in middle-aged people. The makers of the doll, which is modeled on a virtual character, have sold more than 700 thousand over the last three years in Japan alone, and the age distribution of buyers indicates a modal age of 51-60 year old. In this paper, 51 fan letters and 271 Web postings spontaneously sent to the toy maker were analyzed in terms of communicative functions and affective-cognitive contents. The results indicate that (a) the doll owners believe that the doll facilitates their interaction with family members and with friends, and (b) the doll owners attribute positive feelings in terms of both mental and physical states to the doll. The effects of affective attachment are discussed in terms of human emotion model.
