BANDAI, the Japanese toymaker that’s enjoying a growth spurt for anime characters, collectible cat figurines and other miniature goods sold in plastic capsules, will open more stores abroad to capitalise on the boom.

More than 80 new outlets are planned for Asia, Europe and the US starting this month, with a focus on North America, the company said. That would effectively triple the number of speciality shops for the vending machines, currently at 43.

Bandai, part of the entertainment and gaming group Bandai Namco Holdings, is seeking to cash in on the popularity of capsule toys among consumers at home and abroad. With Japan’s recent tourist boom, any place with stacks of the machines are usually thronged with children and adults looking for a surprise when they turn the knob for an orb of fun. The capsule-toy market rose 36 per cent to 61 billion yen (S$544 million) in 2022, according to the most recent data from the Japan Gacha Gacha Association.

“We wanted to go abroad not only to establish a new business model overseas, but also to contribute to the recognition and development of Japanese entertainment culture globally,” said Ryota Katano, deputy general manager of the vendor division at Bandai said.

The idea of the machines are said to have originated from candy machines in the US back in the late 1800s. But Japan’s toy manufacturers appear to have found the right formula to turn them into big business. Bandai’s machines are called gashapon in Japanese, because of the gasha sound the machine makes before spitting out a surprise into the tray with a pon. Also called gacha gacha or just gacha, the machines have become ubiquitous in Japan, found not only in arcades, but also malls, supermarkets, airports and train stations.

Katsuhiko Onoo, the representative director of the Gacha Gacha organisation, said that Bandai is the clear leader in the overall sales number, and that the recent boom is being led by women, who make up around 70 per cent of the market.

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“You will often see machines at the entrance of the stores targeted towards women with Disney and Miffy items,” said Onoo, who has written a book titled The Economics of Gacha Gacha. “That number’s going to reach 100 billion yen,” he said of the 2022 sales total.

That market will keep growing both at home and abroad, according to Tomoaki Kawasaki, a senior analyst at Iwai Cosmo Securities.

“Japanese anime is becoming really popular abroad, so anime-related capsules are going to do well,” Kawasaki said. “On top of that, tourists from abroad come to Japan and they love these machines, so those people are going to go back to their home country and keep buying the capsules.”

Some gashapon-goers will browse the rows of machines for whatever seems quirky, while others go to lay their hands on their favourite character. Capsules are usually inexpensive, at a few hundred yen apiece, but some “premium” capsules have emerged, sometimes costing as much as 2,000 yen. With about five different variations in each machine, part of the fun is the anticipation of not knowing which one will randomly come out.

“When someone feels lonely they can find joy in these machines,” Onoo said. “They bring happiness to people, and I hope that can spread everywhere.”

Bandai’s biggest capsule-toy store in the world, featuring around 3,000 machines, is on the third floor of a mall in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district. The store was packed on a recent visit, with both Japanese and foreign tourists carefully browsing through each of the rows, mesmerised by the endless choice of knick-knacks.

One tourist, 35-year-old Stephen Kennedy visiting from Nova Scotia, Canada, came with a mission to the store.

“I spent about 20 bucks trying to get Pochita from Chainsaw Man,” he said while dangling a keychain from the manga series on his backpack. The Chainsaw Man machine was one of the premium ones, costing 800 yen a spin, among other pricier gambles such as a tree frog toy going for 1,000 yen. Kennedy says such machines would do well back home.

Iwai Cosmo’s Kawasaki added that Bandai will also face some new challenges abroad.

“Making the machines cashless would be effective,” Kawasaki said. “They also need to make sure to create products that those consumers will want to buy, because people won’t just buy any capsule.” BLOOMBERG