Do you know gachapon machines ?
You can find those machines absolutely everywhere in Japanese selling small toys, gadgets and figures. Just put one or few coins in the machine and you randomly got a capsule with a toy inside.
In otaku districts like Akihabara or Nakano, there’s even shops with only gachapon machines inside !
The way Gachapon works, is that you first put in money (typically 100 JPY), turn the lever (gacha-gacha), then a small capsule pops out (pon!). These fun machines can be found in Amusement parks, shopping malls or super markets – there can be anywhere from 5 machines to over 200 machines in bigger places.
There are all types of prizes. Most are organized by category.
For example, prizes with LINE characters.
Or, popular anime characters.
Or, insects, for a bit of uniqueness…
Check out all the Gachapon prizes – so much variety!
Who do you think are the consumers?
Children, of course... but actually, adults love them too.
Let’s think about how this defines the Japanese person.
1) Japanese like to collect small thing
The Japanese – especially Japanese men – have a habit of collecting things. In fact, once they start collecting, they aren’t satisfied until they complete a collection. No one can be sure why the obsession with completion exists, but I suppose there is self-satisfaction… When adults purchase an abundance of cheap products, it’s called “otona-gai.” Perhaps this is a result of being deprived as a child!
2) Japanese are “otaku”
The Japanese – especially Japanese men – are “otaku.” Otaku are people who obsess about something specific, and become immensely knowledgeable about that. There was a photo of a shrimp figurine… but otaku covers not only anime, games, idols, but also spans as far as having “ramen otaku,” “railroad otaku,” “fish otaku,” “beetle bug otaku,” or “jazz otaku.” This self-enjoyment is hard to understand for others and is often viewed as strange. Women often exclaim “Why do you like such things? It seems stupid to be collecting!”
3) Japanese skills are impressive
These gachapon prizes are about 5cm and very small, but the attention to detail make them close to real. Japanese otaku collect, because of the amazing skills and quality of the product that Japanese produce.
More about gachapon in english :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gashapon
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