We pick up some very rare miniatures from a new lineup of gacha vending machines.

If you’re looking for gacha capsule toys, there are a number of hotspots around Tokyo where you can find walls of vending machines that dispense them, and one of those places is Tokyo’s mecca for otaku goods, Akihabara.

A stroll down the streets of Akihabara, or Akiba, as it’s affectionately known, will have you stumbling across all sorts of gacha vending machines, but now you won’t even have to exit the station to find them, thanks to Kenele Stand, which opened on 30 July.

Operated by gacha maker Kenelephant, Kenele Stand is located on Platform 6 of JR Akihabara Station, where the Sobu Line runs. It’s a little hard to find, so we’ve created a little map for you below.

▼ Look for the milk stand on platform 6 and you’ll be heading in the right direction.

Kenele Stand is easy to spot as it has more than 150 vending machines, all filled with really high-quality gacha toys, and unlike other walls of gacha you’ll find around Tokyo, these machines contain toys aimed towards adults.

There are mini Hokusai goods, calligraphy tools, telephone poles, Buddha statues, hanging scrolls, and fishing equipment.

▼ We limited ourselves to just two purchases, each costing just 200 yen (US$1.90).

Our first purchase was this delightful little “Natsukaze Senpuuki” (Summer Breeze Fan).

▼ This wasn’t just a cheap miniature; it’s an actual fan that works!

▼ Ah, the sound of a teeny tiny summer…

Our other purchase was also summer-themed: the New Garigari Mini Ice Shake, with garigari being the onomatopoeia for hard and crunchy. This capsule toy comes as a set that includes a shaved ice machine, a little plastic serving glass and two trays for making ice.

The ice trays looked like they could be filled with water to make ice, just like regular-sized block trays used for making real shaved ice. We wanted to see if this would actually work so we froze some water in the trays…

And popped those little ice blocks into the machine. However, when we tried to turn the handle, we just couldn’t get the ice to shave, despite there being a blade inside. It might’ve been due to the angle of the blade, or more likely our big clumsy thumbs, but still, the act of using the miniature machine put a wide smile on our faces.

These were just two of the many exciting gacha capsule toys available at Kenele Stand, with items like Miniature Furniture, an Audio Miniature Collection, and a BOSCH Miniature Collection also catching our eye.

So if you’d like to hunt down some of the country’s more unusual gacha toys, you might want to make a visit to platform 6 at Akihabara Station next time you’re in the area. And don’t forget to stop for a glass of hot or cold milk at the unusual milk stand on the platform there too!

Location information
KENELE STAND Akihabara store / ケンエレスタンド（KENELE STAND）秋葉原店
Address: Tokyo-to, Chiyoda-ku, Sotokanda 1-17-6 Tokyo JR Akihabara Station Sobu Line Platform 6 at the back of the concourse
東京都千代田区外神田1-17-6 JR秋葉原駅改札内（総武線6番線ホーム裏コンコース）
Hours: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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