Every December, news organizations in Japan obsess over words and phrases that have described the local zeitgeist during the previous 11 months. Some of these terms last no longer than a season, but a few have become perennials, entering the vocabulary as standards, understandable to everyone who knows the language.
One of the most enduring phrases of the Heisei Era (1989 to the present day) has been "Galapagos syndrome," which was coined to describe products that were principally made for domestic consumption and which demonstrated no perceivable traction in other markets. The term was initially coined for certain home electronics models and features whose point on the evolution of appliances indicated a closed system, like that of the titular Pacific Ocean islands made famous by naturalist Charles Darwin for their unique animal and plant species.
