[From the blog Helium; more information and a 0:38 minute video are available here]

Chou Chou electric butterfly in a jar and other toys from the Tokyo Toy Show 2010

by Marilla Mulwane

The Tokyo Toy Show that takes place every year brings out some of the most unique and amazing toys that only Japan could come up with. Of course, some of these silly gadgets make us wonder why it was made while others amaze us and make us pull out our wallets without thinking.

One of those is the Chou Chou butterfly. Plenty of us as kids would catch butterflies and place them in a glass jar prison. We would tap on the glass, causing the butterfly to jump about trying to escape. If we were nice enough, [or] if we didn’t forget, we would let the butterfly free after a short time. We would watch it fly out of the jar and into the sky. If we were cruel, or forgetful, the butterfly would sit in the jar and be dead by morning.

With the Chou Chou butterfly you get the beauty of a captured butterfly without having to let your friend go, and without killing it.

What you get is a Bell jar with a lid, and inside sits a butterfly that looks insanely real. When you tap on the jar, the butterfly [flits] around from side to side, mimicking a real trapped butterfly reacting to the tapping on the glass. It looks incredibly real, and could easily fool anyone. The only thing that stands out with the Chou Chou butterfly is the thin wire that comes off the butterfly. This wire is what makes the butterfly move.

The Japan Trend Shop, sellers of the Chou Chou butterfly, call the beautiful insect “robotic” but it is really controlled by a small amount of electricity. There are batteries beneath the lid, where you can’t see them. The wire is connected to the butterfly. When you tap on the lid, the batteries emit that small amount of power and cause the wire to react to the motion/vibrations caused by the tapping. The movement of the wire moves the butterfly.

The Chou Chou butterfly was a big hit at the Tokyo Toy Show 2010. They can be pre-ordered at the Japan Trend Shop and will be released September 1, 2010.

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