Interesting article on gachapon
The Malaysia Star has a pretty cool article on gachapon, the Japanese toys you can only purchase out of coin operated vending things. Although they exist in America, I have no idea what they are called in English. The Japanese term gachapon is based on the ‘gacha gacha’ sound of turning the crank, followed by the ‘pon!’ of the plastic orb popping down at the bottom of the machine. In Japan they enjoy a large following among small children and creepy old otaku. Read the article about them here!
