{"id":7106,"date":"2022-03-07T18:46:51","date_gmt":"2022-03-07T18:46:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/?p=7106"},"modified":"2022-03-07T18:46:51","modified_gmt":"2022-03-07T18:46:51","slug":"gacha-our-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/gacha-our-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Gacha, Our Life"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you have been to Japan, you might have seen Gachapon.\u00a0 It is also known as gacha, gashapon, or gachagacha.\u00a0 Gacha is a name trademarked by Takara Tomy A.R.T., while Gachapon\/gashapon are names trademarked by Bandai.\u00a0 The general name for this is capsule toy<\/em> \u2013 not very exciting!\u00a0 Whatever the names are, they refer to vending machines dispensing capsule toys. It was originally invented (\u767a\u660e\u3059\u308b hatsumeisuru) in the US as a gumball machine. There are so many kinds, and you choose what you want, insert (\u6295\u5165\u3059\u308btonyusuru) coins, and turn a knob.\u00a0 You do not know what you will get, which is a thrill of the game. In Japan, it was targeted to children by offering capsules with colorful yet cheap erasers and such.\u00a0 And the thrill was at the core of the reward, rather than cheap erasers. From the 1990s, the target audience (\u6a19\u7684\u8cfc\u8cb7\u8005 hyouteki koubaisha) was expanded and the gachapon has evolved a lot.\u00a0 You can choose a theme of your choice, say, sleeping toy dogs or bento.\u00a0 And the quality is superb!!\u00a0 People spend so much money to collect a series.<\/p>\n

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According to the Toy Journal, the capsule toy market has reached \u00a540 billion or US$350 million in 2019.\u00a0 The main driving force (\u539f\u52d5\u529b gendouryoku) has been rather outrageous capsule toys targeting adults.\u00a0 Some toys are insanely detailed. For instance, realistic furniture, power tools fit in the capsule, and alligator figures<\/a> of the well-known artist, Keigo, and many many more.\u00a0 We Japanese tend to be attracted by such fantastical things!\u00a0 What also attributed to the popularity among the adults is the fact that we could play gachapon to our heart\u2019s content (\u5fc3\u3086\u304f\u307e\u3067 kokoroyukumade) with our own money \u2013 no parents to tell us \u201cNO!\u201d<\/p>\n

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There are many stores with a few gacha machines on the storefront (\u5e97\u982d tentou), and there are special stores dedicated to gacha machines.\u00a0 It is so much fun! Some people enjoy creating scenes using capsule toys. If you go to a touristy place, they sure have their gacha machines that dispense capsule toys based on their local specialties. Here is the example of such local capsule toys<\/a> hand-made and painted by one local artist.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oypY0t-TxlU<\/a><\/p>\n

As my last blog on the vending machines, gachapon machines have kept the nation\u2019s attachment to cash (\u73fe\u91d1 genkin) alive, although some machines that accept prepaid cards have come to the market recently.\u00a0 There are so many gacha machines in Narita Airport, for example, targeting international travelers who want to get rid of coins before going home.\u00a0 On my last visit to Narita Airport, I found the spot, which was not too easy to find.\u00a0 And I am not sure if the space remains open due to the COVID-19 induced travel restrictions.\u00a0 If you have a chance to go to Narita Airport, will you check to see if it is still there?<\/p>\n

The word gacha \u2013 you have no control over what you get \u2013 has coined some popular slang. Yami Gacha (\u95c7\u30ac\u30c1\u30e3) is a gacha game machine that dispenses unfilled losses (\u30cf\u30ba\u30ec hazure) most of time.\u00a0 It is usually very expensive to play, and bad luck costs you a lot of money.\u00a0 But that is also a fun aspect when you play it with your friends.\u00a0 There is a YouTube video in which \u00a56000 investments (\u6295\u8cc7 toushi) turned into two masks. Yami = darkness = losses.\u00a0 This is similar to gambling, in my opinion, and can be very dangerous to your financial and general life!<\/p>\n

Oya Gacha (\u89aa\u30ac\u30c1\u30e3) has won the new word award in 2021.\u00a0 It means that children cannot choose their parents, like the capsule toy machines.\u00a0 Similarly, there is a new word \u201cko gacha (\u5b50\u30ac\u30c1\u30e3)\u201d meaning parents do not know what kind of child they will get.\u00a0 These are not really nice words if you think deeply of them.\u00a0 But young people who coined these words argue that these are just a play on words (\u8a00\u8449\u904a\u3073 kotoba asobi), that these words should not be taken seriously, and that they use these words just to whine (\u611a\u75f4\u3092\u3053\u307c\u3059guchi wo kobosu) among friends.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0We all should play more gacha to be happy!<\/p>\n

There has been an exhibition (\u5c55\u89a7\u4f1a tenrankai) in Shibuya now entitled \u5927\u5618\u535a\u7269\u9928\u30ab\u30d7\u30bb\u30eb\u30c8\u30a42\u5104\u5e74\u306e\u6b74\u53f2\u5c55 (All Fake Exhibition, 200 Mllion Years of History of Capsule Toys, oouso hakubutsukan kapuseru toi niokunen no rekishiten).\u00a0 Yes, it is all fake produced by Ryo Fujii.\u00a0 The exhibition basically \u201cproves\u201d that the capsule toys had 200 million years of history, including a fossil (\u5316\u77f3 kaseki) of dinosaurs (\u6050\u7adc\u00a0 kyouryu) with a capsule on the head!\u00a0 And the future section displays that each of our lives would be determined by gacha.\u00a0 Remember, it is all fake. But it is strangely close to a reality\u2026.<\/p>\n

Enjoy!<\/p>\n

Ancient times \u2013 Capsule Toy Civilization<\/p>\n