First imported from America in 1965, capsule toys – or gachapon – really caught the Japanese imagination in the 1970s and rapidly spread across the country. The machines were initially set up in front ...

Japan has a well-deserved reputation as the world’s most enthusiastic country when it comes to vending machines. In downtown Tokyo, it seems like you can find a machine selling drinks on just about ...

There are certain places in Japan where you can pretty much always find capsule toy vending machines. Electronics shops, for example, usually have a row of them near their entrance or in the corner of ...

If you ever go to Japan, you may notice these little machines that look familiar back home. They’re capsule machines with little toys and they’re called Gachapon. The reason they’re called that is ...

The head offices of Kitan Club strike one as more toy shop than corporate outpost. Visitors are greeted at the main entrance by life-size figures of a shoebill and a gorilla, and toys great and small ...

Before I visited Japan, I always had the idea that the gachapon capsule toy machines were really plentiful. I expected I’d see them everywhere. This proved mostly true! The KIX airport had some both ...

This photo shows inside the Esta branch of the "#C-pla" store, which specializes in "gacha gacha" capsule toy vending machines, in Sapporo's Chuo Ward on April 28, 2021. A special booth to take photos ...

Capsule toy machines, better known as gashapon in Japan, are a fun way to use up your loose coins. Plus, the treasures hidden inside these plastic ‘eggs’ often make for great souvenirs, ranging from ...