“カプセルトイ” 大人おとなの需要じゅよう取り込とりこみ専門せんもん店てん増ふやす動うごき活発かっぱつに

Capsule toys containing small items such as toys

Even as the birthrate declines, the market is expanding by capturing demand from adults, and there is a growing trend of increasing the number of specialty stores.

Toy manufacturer Bandai and its group companies are operating specialty stores featuring capsule toy vending machines throughout Japan.

The number of stores has increased more than threefold in the past two and a half years, reaching approximately 400 as of the end of last month.

Bandai Vendor Division General Manager Yusuke Takiguchi said, By creating specialty stores and placing many machines, we are able to offer products for people of all ages and genders.

I feel that it is being accepted not as an impulse purchase, but as a place for entertainment, he said.

In addition, Geo Holdings, which is also engaged in DVD rentals, began opening specialty stores three years ago and now operates 43 stores mainly in Tokyo. Meanwhile, a subsidiary of major retailer Aeon has nearly tripled the number of its specialty stores over the past three years, and currently operates more than 240 stores.

According to each company, the increase in stores is due to the growing demand for capsule toys from adults engaging in so-called oshi-katsu supporting their favorite idols or characters and from foreign tourists.

Since these types of stores require relatively little manpower to operate, one of the factors is that more stores have opened in locations that became vacant due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the Japan Capsule Toy Association, the market size of capsule toys for the last fiscal year, 2024, was just over 140 billion yen on a shipment basis, nearly double that of fiscal year 2022.