But they do have a special function that real stones don’t.

Some capsule toys are cute, and some are cool. Really, though, the ones that are most likely to catch our eyes and open our wallet are the ones that are weird, which brings us to the latest offering from capsule toy maker Tama Kyu.

That giant kanji character 石? It means “rock,” and not in the musical sense. Peering inside, we saw a pile of what appeared to be individually wrapped stones.

Priced at just 200 yen (US$1.80), they’re cheaper than most capsule toys (though come to think of it, since the rocks aren’t inside capsules, do these technically count as capsule toys?). Still, you could make the argument that you’d have to be sort of a weirdo to spend money for a capsule toy that looks like something you could pick up for free from any park or vacant lot.

So, of course, we bought two of them.

Visually, Tama Kyu’s capsule toy rocks are incredibly realistic. They don’t have any glittering sparkles, flashing lights, or other flashy gimmicks.

It’s not until you hold one in your hand that you can tell it’s not a real rock, because of how light it is. These are actually synthetic resin cases with a hollow center for storing small items like fashion accessories.

▼ Our second capsule rock

But again, just looking at them, you’d have a very difficult time telling these from actual stones. Don’t believe us? On our way home, we passed by a field with a patch of stony ground and set our two Tama Kyu rocks down among their naturally occurring brethren. Can you tell where the capsule toys are?

Look closer…

Here they are!

Once back home, we opened the cases up and found they have a surprising amount of space on the inside.

In total, there are six rocks in the capsule toy lineup, with three shapes each having a mossy variant. We may just have to pick up a few more and make ourselves a little rock garden, as long as we don’t spend all our money on the other weird capsule toys that are competing for our coinage these days.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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