capsule toy
This little device could almost always be found in cafés in Japan throughout the latter part of the Showa Period (1926-1989).
Because why wouldn’t you buy mini-workout equipment for your fingers? We saw the need, and so we tested out some of these weird capsule toys.
For some reason, Japan has a deep fascination with giant isopods, the deep-sea creatures that look like, well … giant roaches. Perhaps it’s because of their “unique” appearance, or because one of these critters at the Toba Aquarium in Mie Prefecture became famous for going over five years without eating at all (although that individual is sadly no longer with us), but whatever the cause, these marine creatures seem to make regular appearances on the Japanese Internet in one form or another. In fact, their popularity is such that making cocktail sausages shaped like one of these sea bugs became a hugely popular topic on the Japanese twitterverse earlier this year.
Now, it seems one toy manufacturer has taken Japan’s fondness for isopods one step further and come out with a product modeled after not the actual sea bug itself, but its sausage incarnation — and as a gachapon toy you can buy from a vending machine, no less!
The hit anime and manga title Attack on Titan (Shingeki No Kyojin) has grabbed readers and viewers with its combination of high-flying action and surprisingly disturbing giants.
More than just being violent, something about the titans in this series strikes the creepy chord perfectly in people. So when figure maker Kaiyodo released four capsule toys based on the series they wanted to make sure that feeling came through.
And come through it did. Be warned that some of these figures depict scenes of violence and gore.
Awhile back we ran an article about the US Navy’s latest robot resembling a Japanese Twitter meme called Homo.
Originally created to mock the homoerotic anime-loving Japanese female (fujoshi), homo is a somewhat humanoid creature the crawls along on all fours and utters “homooooo” as it searches far and wide for gay porn.
On twitter this little guy/gal/thing is represented by the ASCII characters ┌（┌ ＾o＾）┐, however several artistic depictions can be found on twitter or if you check our previous article.
The cute little whatever has found a following among the Japanese internet to the point that some are trying to profit from Homo. A reporter from Byokan Sunday recently encountered a capsule machine with a line of Homo figurines, but is this legal?
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