I will talk about Chikyu-goma (Gyro-scope). And the tops called Chikyu-goma are manufactured nowhere any more. It is a kind of bygone old toys. The successor is easy to find. Chikyu-gyro is it. But this time I am going to mention about "Chikyu-goma." Why? The reason will appear later, I will first talk about what Chikyu-goma is.
Chikyu-goma were the tops manufactured by the Aichi Company, Tiger Shokai. It first came out in 1921. Close to one hundred years ago! Since 1921, it had been produced there until 2015. Why did it stop in 2015? They officially said they couldn't keep their business for having no successors there. Then they announced they were going to stop producing Chikyu-goma soon in 2015.
Tiger Shokai in 2013
File: TIGER Company Nagoya 20131209.JPG
from the Japanese Wikipedia
(Photoed on Dec. 9, 2013)
Why was the top named Chikyu-goma? Goma (koma) means a top in Japan's language, Chikyu does the globe. As you know if you are almost familiar with science, this planet is spinning in stability for gyro effect. And Chikyu-goma also spun in stability because of the effect, then they named their gyroscopes Chikyu-goma.
Chikyu-goma (Gyroscope)
How much were they? Up to the size, it needed 900 to 2,000 yen for buying the tops. I guess it was reasonable for a toy. And they disappeared in 2015 as said above. But a male artisan who had belonged to Tiger Shokai founded a new company, he announced he would produce the successor of Chikyu-goma. It is nothing but Chikyu-gyro.
Tiger Shokai officially announced that they had to disappear since they had no successors. Was that a lie? My reasoning says the key is the price. We have to pay over 20,000 yen to get Chikyu-gyro. Too expensive! Needless to say, it is so high that children mostly can't buy easily. Why did they give their production up in 2015? I believe they couldn't supply cheap things (toys) any more. What does it mean? Japan's long-time recession crashed the happy times that we easily got Chikyu-goma as a toy.