Sure, the toys are cool, but it turns out their cases can be pretty useful too.
Near just about any moderately large toy shop or electronics store in Japan, you’ll find a row of gachapon, or capsule toy, vending machines. Toss in a few coins, turn the crank, and out drops a clear plastic sphere containing a sushi cat figure, Sailor Moon compact, or some other tiny trinket.
Most of the time, there’s a basket located next to the machine where you can leave the capsule after removing the toy. If you want to keep your prize nice and safe on your train ride or flight home, though, you might choose to leave the item inside the capsule. Of course, that means once you are back home, you’ve got am empty gachapon container lying around uselessly.
Unless, that is, you take the advice of Japanese Twitter user @moeKLX125.
https://twitter.com/moeKLX125/status/808810039607574528@moeKLX125’s clever idea is to use the gachapon capsule as a case for a mikan, or mandarin orange, so that you can enjoy fruit on the go. Aside from keeping the mikan from getting crushed or squashed inside your bag, you’ll also have a resealable container to place the peel in if there doesn’t happen to be a trash can around when you’re done eating your snack.
Not only does this alternate use for gachapon cases encourage healthy eating, it’s also a much more eco-friendly choice than just throwing the container into the trash, making this a plan that’s good for your body and our earth, all in one handy package.
Source: Hamusoku, Twitter/@moeKLX125

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