The Sociology of Tokyo Disneyland

I caught an interesting commercial for Tokyo Disneyland yesterday which said, “It’s time to say goodbye. Why not make one last visit here, and make some memories together?” February is definitely the “season of goodbye” in Japan, when students who are graduating from junior high or high school part with friends they’ve had for years. The Japanese are very relationship-oriented, and work hard to keep friendships strong, often for decades — all of my mother-in-law’s friends are people she went to school with, for example, which boggles my mind — how do you keep the same circle of friends for 60+ years? In general, a person will have two sets of school friends: those from the same neighborhood who attended elementary and junior high together; and friends from high school, which is not compulsory, with students choosing a school that fits their academic goals and level. Disneyland was reminding students who are about to graduate that they’d be parting from their friends (and boyfriends/girlfriends) soon, and that it was a great time to plan a group trip to Disneyland to have some fun together. It was an incredibly smart marketing message for the company to think of, and I’m sure they’ll be making money hand over fist as a result.

Tokyo Disneyland is the most profitable theme park on the planet thanks to understanding psychology