New edition of children’s magazine Youchien even has adults reaching for their wallets.

Anyone who has bought a magazine in Japan will be aware that they often come with a free gift, and sometimes they can be pretty high quality for something that’s considered an extra.

One magazine in particular that has a history of giving away cool freebies is children’s magazine Youchien. Youchien, which means “kindergarten” in Japanese, is a magazine that focuses primarily on young kids, with some parenting tips for adults included too. Despite being a children’s magazine, though, the free gifts that come with it are so sophisticated that it often causes a buzz with adults as well.

And you certainly don’t need to be in pre-school to enjoy the upcoming May edition of Youchien magazine, which comes with a fully functioning ticket machine gate.

In collaboration with Japan Railways East Mechatronics, Inc., Youchien magazine’s May edition will come with a paper-craft version of the famous JR automated ticket gates. The gates will also include a motorised door that opens and closes, and will make one of three beeping sounds when the miniature Suica IC card that’s included in the pack is swiped.

The ticket gates are the latest in the magazine’s long history of giving away incredible free paper-craft gifts — take the current edition of Youchien, which comes with moving cup ramen:

▼ Or this ATM that dispenses paper money from the December 2019 edition.

▼ Or this UFO catcher with moving arm from the February 2020 edition!

Despite the fact that Youchien is a magazine for children, the papercraft freebies always generate a lot of buzz with netizens online, and this issue is no different.

“This feels less like it’s aimed at kids and more like adults who love trains.”
“I’ll have to buy this pretending I’m getting it for a young relative.”
“I hope these copies don’t get snapped up by resellers.”
“Is this really aimed at kindergarten kids?? What will the free gift be next time, ‘build your own smartphone’ or something?”
“Kids in rural areas don’t get to ride the train as often, so this is a really nice free gift.”

May’s issue of Youchien goes on sale March 31 and costs 1390 yen (US$12). Here’s hoping all kids (and big kids!) who want to get their hands on it can get a copy.

Source: Twitter@youchien_hensyu via NetLab 
Images: Twitter@youchien_hensyu
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