Ami-chan
Takara Tomy, the Japanese toymaker behind famous franchises such as the original Transformers, offers the perfect toy for those hoping to gift something a little more human-like to interact with. The cartoony Ami-chan isn’t quite lifelike in its looks or its movements, but it does talk. Ami-chan has a vocabulary of around 1,600 Japanese words. And it learns as it goes, because how else would it learn the name of the gift recipient?
Ami-chan can also sing 40 different songs and nursery rhymes, and even offers a bit of interactive brain training through tongue twisters. However, this kind of interaction isn’t cheap: Ami-chan will set you back about $250 plus shipping from Japan. And it requires four C-size alkaline batteries to function—again, please bundle your gifts with batteries this year so that I can stop nagging you to do the right thing.
