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Cute, Funny and Strange Gachapon Capsule Toys from Japan

Gachapon Round-Up Video

These are some of my favourite videos to make! Once I start looking I disappear down the rabbit hole and find so many strange and unusual gachapon series. I really can’t believe they get made! Anyway I hope you enjoy the video – and leave me a comment on YouTube with your favourites.

What are Gachapon?

Gachapon are the toys and figures from capsule machines in Japan. They’re only 200 or 300 yen and they come in egg-shaped plastic capsules. The name is onomatopaeic – it comes from the “gacha gacha” sound when you shake them.

They’re often keyrings or small models or figures, related to anime or popular characters. But the most interesting ones are the bizarre series like the ones in my video; the ones that make you think “How/why did anyone ever think of that??!”.

Gachapon machines in Akihabara

Where to Find Gachapon

You can find rows and rows of gachapon machines in arcades (game centres) in Japan. Usually they have them near the stairs or at the edges somewhere, or around the entrance to tempt you in. Some shops have them too; there’s a huge bank of them in Yodobashi Camera, a huge shop in Akihabara. And you can also find them just on the street in main areas.

Akihabara is full of gachapon machines; most of the photos you’ve seen of rows of them are probably from Akiba. But they’re easy to find in lots of other main areas of Tokyo too, including Ikebukuro, Shinjuku and Shibuya.

In Akihabara there’s a shop called Gacha Gacha that’s full of capsule machines! There are also a few small, unmanned shops in Nakano Broadway that just have gacha and nothing else.

More Videos About Japan

I’ve just booked my next trip to Japan, so there’ll be new Japan vlogs coming soon! Subscribe to Cakes with Faces on YouTube and hit the notification bell to catch them: