Japan’s favorite budget lifestyle goods chain now has classy, cool, and cheap squirt guns

Three Coins helps us build a stylish water arsenal just as a heat wave hits Japan.

It’s really, really hot in Japan right now, and while the mature thing to do would be to ride out the heat wave by staying in the shade and sipping on one of those new mouthful-of-peach Frappuccinos, maturity isn’t something our Japanese-language reporter Go Hatori is in the mood for right now. No, Go’s intended method for cooling off is to instigate some squirt gun battles ASAP, and in order to do so he needs to build up a water-shooting arsenal.

But even though Go is a kid at heart, he still has an eye for tasteful fashionable design. Luckily, all of those desires converged in an unexpected place, as he found that Three Coins, one of Japan’s favorite budget-friendly lifestyles shops, now carries a whole line of squirt guns.

Unable to choose just one, Go wound up picking up three different models.

Three Coins is known for its understated but attractive aesthetics (they’re the same company that just released that gorgeous but affordable line of Sailor Moon lifestyle goods). That holds true for its squirt guns too, which come in much more elegant colors than the toyish neons or firearm-evocative blacks and grays of other company’s water weaponry, but still have cool, futuristic lines to them.

Three Coins gets its name from the fact that most of its items are just 300 yen (US$2.10), or 330 yen after sales tax. The simply named “Water Gun” sits at that price point, and with its compact body but large water reservoir, it’s both a good value and a good balance.

▼ Naturally Go needed his shades to perform his action poses.

Only slightly more expensive is the 550-yen “Double Water Gun.”

This one has an unusual design, with two trigger and two nozzles…

…and the reason why is that…

…you can pull it apart into two separate pistols!

▼ It’s perfect for when you want your squirt gun fights to look like they were directed by John Woo.

And last, Go splurged on the 1,320-yen “Water Gun with Shoulder.”

We’re not sure if “with Shoulder” is supposed to refer to the shoulder stock or the shoulder strap, but either way, the overall visual effect is very cool.

▼ Go, ready to fight off the aliens from Signs or some skinless T-800 Terminators who haven’t had anti-rust coating applied yet.

▼ “Not on my watch, Skynet!”

Having recently moved into a new apartment, Go no longer has a giant balcony on which to play with his new toys, so he’s had to settle for shooting them in the bathroom for the time being.

We figure it’s only a matter of time until he brings them to the office, though, and when he does, we probably won’t complain. Again, it is really hot in Tokyo right now, and a squirt gun battle would be far from the craziest thing to happen at SoraNews24 HQ.

Photos © SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Credit: