Tokyo to be treated with too many tantalizing ehomaki sushi rolls this Setsubun

You name it, they got it rolled up in rice.

In Japan, 3 February marks the traditional Japanese holiday of Setsubun. It’s a holiday with many traditions, but my personal favorite has always been the fat sushi rolls known as ehomaki. However, unlike Setsubun, ehomaki as we know them today aren’t centuries old, only dating back a few decades depending on the part of Japan.

This gives businesses a lot of leeway with regards to how they want to make their ehomaki, with some taking the concept to such bastardizing extremes as eho-pizza and eho-subs. It’s often a beautiful thing too, as long as the core themes of “big” and “delicious” are respected.

This year, riders of JR East trains are in for a special treat served up by the railway’s Ecute chain of shopping centers inside some of their major stations.

Ehomaki purists, if there are any out there, would insist on a largely seafood-centric array of fillings, and Ecute certainly does not disappoint there. This shopping center is full of ehomaki vendors such as Tuskiji Uogashi with their Luxurious Seafood Ehomaki, which is fully loaded with chutoro tuna, snow crab, and so much more for 3,000 yen ($20) in a full-size roll.

If that’s too steep, there’s also the Seven Joys Seafood Ehomaki from Sushi Rikizo for 1,790 yen ($12), which has eight types of seafood, despite its name, and some egg for good measure and a total of nine joys.

If quality over quantity is more your game, look no further than the Special Seafood Ehomaki with Oma Bluefin Tuna for 2,380 yen ($16) from Osakansho. Oma tuna is said to be among the finest with its perfect balance of fat achieved from swimming through the rough currents of the northern Tsugaru Straits.

Crab lovers have a lot to celebrate too with the sale of Crab Ehomaki for 3,980 yen ($27) per full roll from Kani no Takumi Craclu. Not only is it stuffed with shredded snow crab, but the whole thing is rolled up in crab meat too. There’s also fried egg, cucumber, and kanpyo to give the texture a boost.

And if you think that crab roll is wild, we’re just getting started. Bar Marche Kodama is serving up Roast Beef Ehomaki for 1,620 yen ($11) with the titular meat inside and out.

Not beefy enough? All right, how about a Black Japanese Steak & Yakiniku Two-Tone Roll from Niku Oroshi Kojima for 2,180 yen ($15)? This roll does away with the variety of other ehomaki and gives you steak with a side of barbecue.

I’m getting a coronary just looking at that, so let’s lighten things up a bit with the Smoked Duck & Iburigakko Tartar Sauce Roll from Foods Stage Kitano Fore for 1,550 yen ($10). Iburigakko is a smoked and pickled daikon from Akita Prefecture, which in this case is added to the tartar sauce for extra texture and smokiness.

Ehomaki isn’t just for Japanese food anymore either. Asian restaurant Mr. Chicken is representing Thailand with the Thai Style Colorful Shrimp Katsu Ehomaki. At the center is spicy breaded shrimp meat covered in a sweet chili sauce and surrounded by the Thai superfood riceberry purple rice. Also, instead of seaweed, the whole thing is wrapped up in egg for 1,620 yen ($11) per full roll.

From Koutourou there’s the Ehomaki (Shrimp Mayo Maki), which fuses a Japanese sushi roll and the popular Chinese take on shrimp in mayonnaise sauce. For just 648 yen ($4) per full roll, it’s a steal.

Journeying slightly to the west, we find the Indian Style Ehomaki Veggie from Sitaara Diner for 1,188 yen ($8). This is filled up with a vegetarian biryani and wrapped in a thin Rumali roti bread.

And no sushi collection is complete without some South Korean gimbap, represented here by the Cheese Ehomaki Gimbap from Bibim. In addition to some conventional ehomaki fillings, there’s a highly unconventional slice of cheddar cheese. It’s all wrapped up in that delicious Korean seaweed and served for 1,100 yen ($7).

And even if you can’t or won’t eat sushi, Ecute has you covered with a wide variety of sweets based on ehomaki and other Setsubun icons like oni.

Needless to say, there’s a whole lot to enjoy at Ecute this Setsubun, but the real tragedy of this holiday is that most of it is only available for one or two days. Supplies are also limited and items can vary from location to location, so the best bet to securing your favorite is by reserving it on the JR East Mall website in advance.

Whatever you decide on, just remember to point it in this year’s lucky direction of east by northeast while eating it, and do not – I repeat do not – shove them in your friends’ mouths, no matter how tempted you may be to do so.

Source: JR East Mall, PR Times
Images: PR Times
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500-year-old national treasure Matsumoto Castle is also a modern projection-mapped beauty【Video】

Digital art display in Nagano moves into its final form.

A number of Japan’s castles are modern reconstructions, their prior structures having been lost to the fires of war, the wear and tear of time, or simply the gradual dismantling of the feudal warrior class following the end of Japan’s Sengoku period. Matsumoto Castle, though, is one of the still-standing originals.

Located in the city of Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, Matsumoto Castle was built in the late 16th century and is an officially designated National Treasure of Japan. That doesn’t mean Matsumoto Castle is stuck in the past, though, as this winter the castle is being lit up nightly as part of a breathtaking projection mapping art project.

The display is all the more impressive thanks to the pond that Matsumoto Castle sits at the center of. While such a feature would be a valuable anti-siege feature back in the day, here in the modern era it creates a mirror-like surface for the castle to reflect onto, doubling the amount of color for visitors’ eyes to enjoy.

▼ Video of the Matsumoto Castle projection mapping display

The entire program, produced by Nagoya-based digital art creative company Hitohata, lasts for roughly nine minutes, and is shown nightly between 6 and 9 p.m., with an approximately three-minute break between cycles, so you’ll never have more than a 12-minute wait to see the whole thing. The surrounding park is also illuminated as part of the festivities.

The display debuted on December 16, with its first phase running until January 7. The second phase (seen in the video above), with new patterns, began the following day and concluded on January 26. That doesn’t mean you’ve missed your chance to see this amazing artwork on-site, though, since the third and final phase of the Matsumoto Castle projection mapping event kicked off on January 27 and will continue until February 14.

Source, images: PR Times
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Japan’s Homo Sausage now comes with cheese

What a way to celebrate a birthday.

In Japan, some terms get lost in translation, with words from other languages having a different meaning in Japanese, like “mansion“, which means “apartment“, “service“, which means “freebie” and “smart“, used to describe someone with a slim body.

On the other hand, there are words that have the same meaning in Japanese as they do in English, like “pizza“, “sofa” and “homo“, the latter of which is short for “homosexual” and a slur that some members of the LGBTQIA+ community have reclaimed in recent years.

So if “homo” means the same thing here as it does overseas, why is there a sausage brand called “Homo” in Japan? Well, according to Maruzen, the company behind the product, the word “homo” in Homo Sausage comes from the English word “homogenise”, referring to the way the sausages are processed.

This explanation is as much of a surprise to locals as well as foreigners, given that the English word “homogenise”, known as “kinshitsuka” in Japanese, is far from common knowledge. Either way, Homo Sausage is celebrating its 70th birthday this year, and to celebrate, it’s releasing a new version containing cheese.

Maruzen says, “We use a mild and melt-in-the-mouth cheese that goes well with the light taste of Homo sausage”, and if you’re wondering what Homo sausage usually contains, it’s a mixture of minced fish, mainly walleye cod, with the addition of tuna to give it a rich fish flavour.

The cheesy, fishy Homo sausage was perfected through trial and error, with a variety of cheeses tested in order to find the perfect balance between sausage and cheese. It’ll be available in three-piece bundles, with each sausage weighing 70 grams (2.5 ounces).

▼ Frying them lightly allows you to enjoy the melty cheese flavour even more.

If you prefer your Homo sausage sans cheese, the company will still be selling its classic variety in three and five piece bundles.

▼ There are 23.4 grams of protein in the three-pack…

▼ …and 39 grams in the five-pack.

The Homo Sausage Three-Piece Bundle with Cheese can be purchased at stores around Japan from 4 March, at a recommended retail price of 357 yen (US$2.42).

We love cheese at any time of the year, so we think this is a great way to celebrate a 70th birthday. And if they need an idea for their next anniversary, a Wiener pizza tie-up could be on the cards!

Source, images: PR Times
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Starbucks Japan unveils first sakura drink for cherry blossom season 2024

This year’s special limited-edition release is a very traditional Japanese affair. 

It’s been almost ten years since Starbucks debuted its special “Chilled Cup” series at Japanese convenience stores in 2005, and one we look forward to trying every year is the limited-edition Sakura variety.

This year, we’re being treated to Sakura Matcha with Sakura Jelly, which combines “the gorgeous scent of cherry blossoms, matcha and milk, and the fun texture of cherry blossom jelly”.

▼ Though it’s not expressly mentioned by the chain, the drink also contains seven-percent “もも果汁” (“peach juice”).

The design on the cup is always different, and this year’s pattern catches the eye with varying shades of pink, alongside splashes of green for contrast, to represent the matcha element. The sakura here are in full bloom, and the cup itself features a dome-shaped cap reminiscent of the Frappuccino drinks sold at Starbucks stores.

To help get everyone in the mood for cherry blossom season, Starbucks will be holding a special campaign for Japanese residents, where 10 people will be selected by lottery to win a special picnic set. To enter, follow the Starbucks CPG official Twitter account and post “the things you want to enjoy during cherry blossom season” under the campaign tweet when it appears on 6 February.

In addition, 1,000 people who add the official Starbucks CPG account as a friend on the Line messaging app and send an image of the Sakura Chilled Cup after purchasing it will be randomly selected to win an original tote bag.

▼ Both campaigns run from 6 February to 4 March.

Starbucks says the Sakura Matcha with Sakura Jelly is a luxurious dessert drink perfect for spring, and it’ll be released at convenience stores nationwide from 6 February at a recommended retail price of 230 yen (US$1.56).

Source, images: Press release
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Starbucks’ newest Japanese Frappuccinos start selling out before going on sale

Lack of key ingredient means sweets fans may be left singing the blues as roughly 100 branches will get no Operas.

A lot of sweets fans had January 31 circled on their calendars, since it was the launch date for Starbucks Japan’s newest Frappuccinos. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, and it being as much about chocolate as it is romance in Japan, Starbucks was set to roll out both a Rouge Opera Frappuccino and a Rouge White Opera Frappuccino, both taking their names from the French layer cake made with chocolate, almond, and coffee.

Sadly, on January 30, Starbucks Japan sent out a notice that both varieties of the Rouge Opera Frappuccino had already sold out at many of its branches and will not be coming back.

Those dates might seem odd, making you wonder if in addition to coffee, desserts, and staggeringly expensive lucky cat figurines, Starbucks has also branched out into time travel. In actuality, though, while January 31 was the official on-sale date for the Rouge Opera Frappuccinos, Starbucks really started offering them on January 29, but only to select customers. Starbucks Rewards members could start ordering them two days early, and enough of them did that roughly 100 Starbucks Japan branches have already run out of a key ingredient, turning what were supposed to be their newest items into instant relics of their dessert beverage past.

So what’s that key ingredient? Gold. Specifically, it’s gold powder, which is sprinkled across the top of the Rouge Opera Frappuccino, just as it often is with opera cakes, with the glint of the gold contrasting elegantly with the darker colors of the chocolate.

With gold powder ostensibly harder to quickly and efficiently procure in great quantities than, say, chocolate sauce, Starbucks will simply not be offering the Rouge Opera Frappuccinos at those branches where the gold rush has already exceeded supply. That also means that those branches won’t be offering gold powder as a topping to other drinks, which was supposed to be an option during the Rouge Opera Frappuccino’s run. As a consolation, the chain says that those branches which ran out of gold powder prior to January 31 will instead be offering a free drink customization to customers. “We wish to offer our deep and sincere apologies for the inconvenience we have caused to our customers who were looking forward to these products,” says Starbucks Japan in the announcement.

While 100 branches missing out on the new Frappuccinos isn’t an insignificant number, it’s worth noting that Starbucks has roughly 1,800 branches in total in Japan, so assuming you’re not in a rural community or only interested in going to the branch closest to your home/workplace/school, you can probably still track the drinks down. Starbucks cautions, though, that with the early reactions exceeding their expectations, it’s highly unlikely that any branches will be able to keep the Rouge Opera Frappuccinos in stock until their official final day of sales on February 14, so if you’re going to need to do some legwork to get yours, you’ll want to get your shoes on soon.

Source: Starbucks Japan via IT Media
Top image: Press release
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Tokyo’s newest hot spring bathhouse and foodie spot opening next to Japan’s biggest fish market

Onsen and Edo appeal added right next to to Toyosu’s biggest travel destination.

For generations, Toyosu was a part of Tokyo that wasn’t on travelers’ radars. That changed in 2018, though, with the opening of Toyosu Market, the replacement for the fabled Tsukiji fish market. As the new gateway to some of the freshest sushi possible, Toyosu has become a bucket-list destination for foodies, and the neighborhood is about to get another great attraction in the form of a brand-new hot spring bathhouse and facility dedicated to the wider wonders of Japanese cuisine beyond just sushi.

Toyosu Senkyaku Bankai will be located right next to Toyosu Market, and the complex will be hard to miss. In the section designed to recreate the atmosphere of Edo-period Tokyo, you’ll find three floors of dining and snacking options, ranging from comfort food like ramen to unagi (freshwater eel) and, of course, delicious seafood. Specialty shops will also offer items such as ukiyo-e art and traditional Japanese woodwork crafts.

The true feast for the eyes, though, is waiting at Tokyo Toyosu Manyo Club, the 24-hour multi-story hot spring facility situated by Tokyo Bay.

Here you’ll be able to soak away the fatigue of a day spent walking around Toyosu while looking out over the water at breathtaking, unobstructed views of the Tokyo skyline.

If you’d like to warm yourself up while keeping your clothes on, patrons of the bathhouse can also enjoy a rooftop open-air footbath with 360-degree views…

…and there’s even a foot-bath area open to the general public.

Though there’s no naturally heated spring bubbling up from the ground in Toyosu, Tokyo Toyosu Manyo Club does boast genuine hot spring water, which is transported to the site daily from the Kanagawa towns of Hakone and Yugawara, two of the region’s best-loved onsen towns.

Patrons are also given their choice of loaner yukata (lightweight kimono) to wear while at the bathhouse facility, which in addition to baths has restaurants, relaxation spaces, and massage services.

And if understandably, you’re ready to hit the sack after a full day of eating and bathing, Tokyo Toyosu Manyo Club also has 71 hotel guest rooms for those wishing to stay overnight.

Both the Senkyaku Banrai market and Tokyo Toyosu Manyo Club open on February 1.

Location information
Toyosu Senkyaku Banrai / 豊洲千客万来
Address: Tokyo-to, Koto-ku, Toyosu 6-5-1
東京都江東区豊洲6丁目5番1号
Website (Toyosu Senkyaku Banrai, Tokyo Toyosu Manyo Club)

Source: PR Times via IT Media
Top image: PR Times
Insert images: PR Times, Toyosu Senkyaku Banrai, Tokyo Toyosu Manyo Club
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Weekly Shonen Champion manga magazine offers several issues for free in light of Noto Earthquake

Longstanding manga magazine shares an act of kindness on behalf of those affected by the devastating New Year’s Day earthquake.

It’s been almost a month since a 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa Prefecture. While many major companies have stepped up to deliver goods and raise relief money in creative ways, it’s going to be a long time before things feel back to normal for the thousands of people who lost their homes and more in an instant.

When not focusing on the enormous task of rebuilding ahead of them, what else can survivors do to distract themselves with a brief moment of respite? Japanese publisher Akita Shoten has provided one idea by announcing on January 24 that it will release several issues of its Weekly Shonen Champion magazine free for the public to read since hard copies may be impossible to buy at the moment in the earthquake-affected areas.

▼ Akita Shoten’s announcement

令和6年能登半島地震に伴う「週刊少年チャンピオン」無料公開のお知らせhttps://t.co/LAD7w1Y2d2

— 秋田書店公式 (@akitashoten) January 25, 2024

Weekly Shonen Champion magazine was first released in 1969 and is published every Thursday. It’s perhaps most well known for serializing past works by the “Father of Manga” Osamu Tezuka and Go Nagai, whose own Go Nagai Wonderland Museum burned down in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture after the quake–which makes the publisher’s gesture even sweeter. These days, the magazine is famous for featuring popular series such as Yowamushi Pedal, Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun, and The Vampire Dies in No Time.

Regarding the free content, the magazine has clarified that the digital versions of Issues 4 + 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 will be released for free through February 29. Only manga that are currently being serialized will be available, and the free content does not include any bonus goods or gravure (swimsuit/lingerie models) photoshoots that may have accompanied the print copies. As of this writing, the links for Issues 4 + 5, 6, and 7 are already up at the bottom of this page under the【公開ページ】heading. Issues 8 and 9 will be published at 10 a.m. JST on February 1 and 10 respectively on the same page. The chapters appear to be available to those outside of Japan as well.

For more reports of people and companies committing to Noto Earthquake relief efforts, see J-Rock star Yoshiki’s auctioning off of his crystal piano and Coca-Cola’s recent generosity.

Source: Akita Shoten via ITMedia
Top image: Pakutaso
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Tokyo’s busiest commuter line slowing things down with special one-lap Yamanote sightseeing train

Conductors share special views from the downtown loop line.

The Yamanote Line is a loop that encircles the center of Tokyo, making it one of the busiest commuter lines for people working or going to school in the city. At the same time, the 30 stations along the route also often make the Yamanote Line the fastest way to get to major downtown sightseeing and entertainment destinations.

But now rail operator East Japan Railway Company/JR East has come up with the idea of slowing things down on the Yamanote Line for a sightseeing train that’s all about the journey itself.

This isn’t a totally unprecedented idea. Though it’s become less common in recent years, there was a time when taking a ride around the entire Yamanote loop and getting off back where you started was a sort of in-the-know travel tip for tourists who’d just arrived in Tokyo and wanted a quick orientation of the downtown area, or for those who wanted one last, long look at the city at the end of their travels before heading home.

JR East’s Yamanote sightseeing course will be called the Tokyo Marutto Yamanote Line, marutto being a play on words that evokes ideas of roundness (like a loop or circle) and completeness in the Japanese language. Don’t worry if you’ve experienced the crazy congestion of Tokyo rush hour, not only is this an afternoon train, but it’s also exclusively for those taking part in the sightseeing tour.

The train will depart from Ikebukuro Station and make a full lap of the Yamanote Line before participants detrain, taking on no new passengers. During the ride, guides will point out sights of interest as the carriages pass through some of the most interesting and famous parts of the city. The tour was developed by conductors who work the Yamanote Line every day and have developed keen eyes for both the major and minor sights along the way, and to make sure passengers don’t miss anything, the Tokyo Marutto Yamanote Line will be running at a slower speed than the normally zippy commuter trains. Whereas a full lap of the Yamanote Line usually takes about one hour, the Tokyo Marutto Yamanote Line’s Ikebukuro-to-Ikebukuro course, despite stopping at no stations in between, will take a leisurely 66 minutes.

▼ And once you get off, you’ll be within easy walking distance of Ikebukuro’s gigantic new Animate anime specialty store.

The sightseeing train is scheduled to run on March 2, departing Ikebukuro at 1:26 p.m. and pulling back into the station again at 2:32. A total of 270 tickets are being offered, priced at 2,000 yen (US$14) for adults (designated as middle school students or older) and 1,000 yen for children (elementary-school age), with two younger-than-elementary-school children able to accompany a paying adult free of charge. Tickets go on sale February 1 at 3 p.m. via the JR East Mall website here, and while only a single Tokyo Marutto Yamanote Line train is currently scheduled, we’ll probably be seeing more if JR East sees a big turnout for this special opportunity.

Source: JR East via IT Media
Top image: Wikipedia/MaedaAkihiko
Insert image: Pakutaso
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Fortune-telling ramen: Nissin creates clever use for instant noodle drain holes

The most delicious omikuji you’ve ever seen!

As the company that gave the world instant noodles, Nissin is always looking for new ways to keep pushing the envelope, or should we say, the ramen bowl, and now they’ve done just that by turning the company’s Yakisoba UFO cup into a fortune-telling vessel.

The team shared their clever invention with a tweet on the official UFO Twitter account, which read: “We took advantage of the fact that noodles poke out when draining the hot water by testing it out as an omikuji.”

湯切りで麺がちょびっと出ることを利用して
おみくじにしてみました pic.twitter.com/wKqTPZj8Wh

— 日清焼そばU.F.O.公式 (@nissin_u_f_o) January 25, 2024

As the above tweet shows, the omikuji — a Japanese form of fortune telling where a box is shaken to release a stick that tells your fortune — works by using noodles instead of sticks, with different fortunes printed above the holes.

▼ An example of an omikuji box at a Japanese shrine.

While some omikuji, like the one above, involves a stick with a number on it that correlates to a fortune, Nissin’s ramen omikuji has the fortunes printed above the drainage holes. Whichever hole the noodle pokes out of predicts your fortune, and in Nissin’s tweet, that hole reads, “末吉” (“suekichi”), meaning “future good fortune“.

Other fortunes printed above the holes are in line with the ones generally used on omikuji at Japanese shrines and temples:

• 大吉 (daikichi) great good fortune
• 吉 (kichi) good fortune
• 小吉 (shoukichi) small good fortune
• 中吉 (chuukichi) medium good fortune
• 末吉 (suekichi) future good fortune
• 末小吉 (sueshoukichi) future small good fortune
• 凶 (kyou) misfortune
• 大凶 (daikyou) great misfortune

The idea for fortune-telling by noodles was such a clever one that it garnered over 25 million views in a few short days, with people leaving comments like:

“This is genius — I definitely want to try this!”
“As expected of Nissin, they do things we can’t even imagine! I’m so impressed.”
“If they sold this, I’d buy it immediately.”
“So innovative.”
“It’s great to have a company where playfulness is an important part of product development.“

Nissin really has outdone themselves with this new concept, and we now have our fingers crossed that the “future good fortune” indicated in the photo is a hint that the product might soon be appearing in stores. We won’t put it past them, given that this is a company who once sold their Cup Noodles with cat ears on the lids!

Source: Twitter/@nissin_u_f_o via Hachima Kikou
Images ©SoraNews24
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Weird Japanese gacha lucky dip vending machine gives us more than we bargained for

You never know what might happen when you play with the gacha gods. 

The other day, our reporter Haruka Takagi was taking a stroll through the streets of Hanaten in ​​Osaka when something bright and pink caught her eye outside a block of apartments near the station.

As she walked towards the eye-catching sight, she could see festive balloons and bunting in the design, with an image of Osaka Tower and the words, “自販機ガチャ！！” (“Gacha Vending Machine!!“) emblazoned across it.

At first glance, it looked like one of those sweepstakes-style vending machines that offer you the chance to win an expensive item like a gaming console, but the sign on the machine revealed that this was something else. The sign read:

“This gacha vending machine sells products that are consumable but difficult to sell through normal channels due to factors such as expiration dates, seasonality, damaged or altered packaging, and damage caused by natural disasters. By selling theses products, we are working to eliminate food and product wastage.”

Food loss prevention is a cause Haruka is always happy to support, so she pulled out her wallet and took a look at the options in front of her. There were five price points — 100 yen (US$0.67), 200 yen, 300 yen, 500 yen and 1,000 yen — but no indication as to what she might get in return.

The numbered selections all had enticing slogans you might hear from street vendors on them, like “Choose this!” and “Today’s best!”, which got her excited for what might come out of the machine.

Unable to make up her mind on which tier to select, she decided to try them all, starting first with a 100-yen purchase.

What thudded out into the tray below didn’t sound as heavy as a canned drink, so what could it be?

▼ Mochi!

This wasn’t any ordinary package of mochi, as it was a well-known variety of mini round rice cakes made by a famous manufacturer.

▼ With an expiration date of October 2025, Haruka has almost two years left to eat this mochi.

With nothing wrong with the expiry date, Haruka figured it must’ve been in the machine due to seasonality, as mochi rice cakes are generally eaten around New Year.

▼ What would she receive for 200 yen?

▼ Hmmm…what’s this?

This turned out to be a pack of cream stew, with an expiration date of 18 February, 2024.

▼ Next up, we have the 300-yen purchase, which turned out to be…

▼…a matte lipstick and medicated disinfectant gel from Korean cosmetics brand Stimmung.

That seemed like a good deal to Haruka, so she kept going with her next-tier purchase for 500 yen, which netted her…

▼…a pack of interdental brushes from Oral-B.

This was a reasonable price for a pack of 40 of these little brushes, and though she didn’t know why they were included in the machine as they looked to be in perfect condition, it was time for her to go all out with her 1,000-yen purchase.

▼ What would this get her?

▼ A Nike Breakaway Lanyard!

She had no idea what this was at first, but after getting home and looking it up, she learned that the strap has a “quick release buckle” that opens automatically when the lanyard is pulled, to help prevent injuries.

During her research, she found that the lanyard retails for 899 yen, so this was a bit of a disappointment, but hey, that’s what you get when you roll the dice with the gacha gods.

Was it good value for money? Well, not really, but then again, she wasn’t looking for a bargain — she was paying for a sense of excitement and on that front, the vending machine certainly delivered.

So if you ever come across one of these bright pink vending machines in your neighbourhood, you now know what to expect when you feed your money into it. Every push of the button may deliver a different product, though, so, like a box of chocolates, you never know exactly what you’re gonna get!

Images © SoraNews24
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