Gachapon Machines - Tokyo Intro: Experience #11 of 55

May 21, 2020

Gachapon Machines - Tokyo Intro: Experience #11 of 55

You will see capsule toy machines in malls, on the street, in various shops, in toy stores, in big stores like Yodobashi Camera, and even in museums. Gashapon or Gachapon are named after the cranking sound the machines make when the dispenser dial is turned to dispense their plastic capsules. If you look at enough machines you will see they contain a variety of items that cost 100, 200, 300, or 500 yen. A 500 yen machine takes five 100 yen coins as there is no 500 yen coin. The sight of an aisle of hundreds of gachapon machines is impressive and colorful, as each machine has a picture card showing what it contains, and it is gachapon paradise.

UPDATE 2022: The prices of gashapon machines have gone up. The quality has increased in some cases too, but they are more expensive than they were 5 years ago, and even then there was price inflation. There used to be bargain 100 yen machines, and 200 yen machines were fairly common for many toys, including mini-figures. The lowest price now is 300 yen, with many capsules at 500 yen. There are even deluxe capsules with much higher quality figures at 1200 or 1300 yen now. Fortunately these expensive ones only have like 3 to 5 variants instead of like 10 for example, so you have a higher chance of getting the one you want.

There are also dedicated stores that just sell Gachapon like Akihabara Gachapon Kaikan. In places like Akihabara or Nakano Broadway there are stores that sell gachapon items that people have traded in so you can complete your collection. The biggest Bandai gashapon shop in Japan is at Sunshine City mall and any Yodobashi Camera store will have banks of gashapon machines.

Gashapon Machines

Gashapon Capsules

Within each plastic capsule, the item within could be little anime character, puzzle, small toy, replica, or other little widget. Capsule toys are often pretty interesting due to the creativity and detail put into them. There are really good replicas of buildings, everyday objects, animals, archeological artifacts, vehicles, fossils, etc. Plenty of people like to try their luck at these machines as they often have something that will appeal to them. These are not like the capsules you find in North America or Europe.