Huge Hit at Airports! Why Gacha Business Resonates with Inbound Tourists

With the government's goal of attracting 40 million international tourists to Japan by the 2020 Olympics, the inbound business is booming.

Amidst this, the "JAPANESE CAPSULE TOY GACHA" by the gacha brand "Panda no Ana," developed by Dentsu Inc. Tech and Takara Tomy Arts, has become a huge hit among foreign tourists! Sales are 3 to 5 times higher than usual, media coverage is flooding in, and "Panda no Ana" events are being held overseas – its momentum shows no signs of stopping.

Why has it become so popular? Continuing from Part 1, we asked Masami Iida, Senior Creative Director at Dentsu Inc. Tech and the mastermind behind "JAPANESE CAPSULE TOY GACHA."

Masami Iida (Senior Creative Director, Dentsu Tech)

The "Idea" and "Design" That Captured Foreign Tourists' Hearts

I believe the high quality was recognized, leading adults to respond positively and the product to spread on social media, dispelling the image of it being just a cheap toy for children. This leveraged Dentsu Inc. Tech's strength as a production company – its ability to "make things" – and maximized the power of "ideas" and "design."

・The Power of Ideas to Create Hit Characters

Since we didn't have any characters, the biggest challenge was deciding what to create. The solution was the idea itself.

For example, animals have no copyright restrictions, are widely recognized, and many people love them. So, what if we gave those animals slightly protruding jaws? That concept gave birth to the popular series "Shakurel Planet."

Similarly, "The Non-Thinker" and "The Overly Free Goddess" leveraged the high recognition of thinkers and the Statue of Liberty. By adding our unique ideas, we created new characters with strong recognition without directly using the well-known figures themselves.

At the airport, the biggest hit was "Parasaitou-san," a completely original character. In fact, it reportedly outsold a globally popular character familiar from movies.

The background to creating hit characters from scratch like this lies in the process of narrowing down and commercializing ideas from a vast pool. A team of over a dozen planners participates, presenting up to 90 ideas at peak times. Considering each member generates even more ideas before the presentation, it means a single product emerges from a truly enormous number of ideas.

"Para-Saito-san," an original character embodying the image of a parasite inhabiting the human mind

・Design power that attracts many people

The production company's strong focus on design is a major strength. In the case of gacha, the situation is brutal: consumers must choose one item from hundreds displayed. Therefore, making it stand out is crucial, and design plays a significant role.

For example, the poster visuals that drive purchases. Typically, manufacturers outsource these to external designers, but we have our planners design them directly and then have them photographed by top-tier photographers from the advertising industry. Furthermore, having an in-house copywriter allows us to meticulously craft names and catchphrases.

Within the gacha industry, I believe this is quite a luxury. In fact, for half of our buyers, these poster visuals are the direct trigger for their purchase.

This system—promoting innovative products through design and graphic work—has enabled us to effectively appeal to many foreign tourists.

The poster visuals for the gacha machines, which directly drive purchases, also boast high quality.

The cutting edge of "Japanese-ness" as envisioned by creators

The reason "JAPANESE CAPSULE TOY GACHA" resonates with international audiences lies in its embodiment of contemporary "Japanese-ness." This was precisely our goal—the very naming of "JAPANESE" CAPSULE TOY GACHA reflects our intention to present current Japanese culture to the world.

As a result, I feel a business model has emerged where overseas customers find and purchase content that embodies contemporary Japanese sensibilities.

That said, the "Japanese-ness" I perceive isn't the classical kind using motifs like cherry blossoms. It's about "taking slightly silly things with a contemporary sensibility and creating them earnestly and seriously with high quality."

Panda no Ana features many surreal, quirky items like animals sleeping, whereas overseas figures often rely on existing characters that just stand still with few pose variations. Products like Panda no Ana are rare outside Japan and represent a distinct characteristic of contemporary Japanese culture.

Beyond toys, they're spreading as "healing items"!

Currently, we're expanding installation locations beyond airports, with the strongest purchasing demographic being women in their 20s. Many seem to buy them on their way home from work. Before starting the gacha business, we thought men would be the target audience, so this was surprising.

Women seem to buy them more as "comfort items" than toys. They place them on their desks, and seeing them makes them chuckle, providing comfort. We hear this feedback frequently.

At Panda's Hole, we've always valued that slightly silly, laugh-out-loud kind of humor.

I believe the world has things that are incredibly important, and things that are trivial but make you laugh.

The latter is often seen as dispensable, but silly things don't exist in nature. They're a part of human playfulness developed over long ages, an indispensable and incredibly important thing. In times like these, when things feel stifled, inexpensive little laughs like gachapon might be surprisingly important.

In a slightly strange era, slightly strange things are just right, I suppose. I hope you find them amusing.