The terms gashapon (ガシャポン) or gachapon (ガチャポン) refer to a variety of capsule machines. It is quite popular in Japan and in other parts of the world. Gashapon is a Japanese onomatopoeia that is composed of two sounds: "gasha" or "gacha", representing the sound of a crank being turned, in this case, the crank of the gashapon, and "pon" for the sound of the toy capsule dropping from the receptacle.
Gashapon can describe both the machines themselves and the toys obtained from them. The popular manufacturers of gashapon include Tomy, which uses the shortened term Gacha (ガチャ) for their capsule machines, another manufacturer is Kaiyodo. In the United States, gashapon is a trademark of Bandai Company, by having gashapon usually referring to secret box sets.
Gashapon are like a vending machine, where you put in your coin and are allowed to get a prize by turning the crank for your prize to drop down to you. These machines are scattered all over Japan, mainly in front of game centers, supermarkets, shopping malls, stores, train stations, etc. They were invented in 1965, but their popularization only came between 1980 and 1990.
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about gashapon
The toys won in other countries are mostly of low quality; however, in any place in Japan, the price will vary from ¥100-600, having a considerably higher quality. The most sought-after items are Hatsune Miku merchandise, One Piece items, and hentai collectibles.
Many times are constructed of very high quality PVC plastic, containing more details in its molding, in addition to well -made and detailed paintings and finishes. Many items are collector's items, some quite rare, fetching extremely high prices at auctions and thrift stores.
The gacha toys are licensed and are often based on mangas, anime, and even video games, as well as products from the American industry. These toys are mainly mini figurines of characters, with a wide variety of choices.
The gashapon has become a generational phenomenon in Japan, especially for adult collectors, both Japanese and "worldwide." It is not uncommon to find places that sell specific products for adults, mostly featuring female characters.
Almost all gacha are released in series, each with a number of figures to be collected. By nature, it is a blind, secret, and random purchase. In some places, such as Tokyo and Osaka, it is possible to find complete collections. Generally, they are cheaper than playing and winning random prizes.
Playing in gacha is fun, but it can be a frustrating game since it's all about luck. Besides, you might end up getting the same figure multiple times.
types of gashapon
blind boxes: In recent years, the term "gashapon" has been used to refer to the blind-box trading figures. They are essentially the same thing, only sold randomly in sealed packages instead of machines.
Bottle cap figures: Another variation of gashapons They are the Bottle Cap Figures. These are small figures that have a bottle cap, similar to those found in the 600ml bottles. They are sold on both capsule machines and in "Blind-Bulk".
Below we will leave a video of Japan Our Daily Life that explains and shows these fabulous machines up close!