Mystery toy from Japan - what do I do with it?
August 25, 2015 4:23 PM

What is this? A friend of mine got this in Japan, from one of those machines where you put in a coin and crank the knob, and out pops a little prize. He and I can't read Japanese.

The round thing is a little stack of paper, slightly smaller than an Oreo. What I can't figure out is if this thing has a secret special purpose that can only come from Japan. Pic also has the instructions that came with it.

Sorry for the sideways pic! Thanks in advance :)
posted by curagea to Grab Bag (9 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
It looks like it's just a notepad. It says that if you fold over the sides of the sheet, it looks like a galette cake. Can you post a full picture of the instructions?
posted by J.K. Seazer at 4:32 PM on August 25, 2015


Yeah the black bar text at the bottom says "ガレットメモ" which is basically "galette memo".

(Also if you're curious, the name for those machines is "gachapon" or "gashapon")
posted by thefoxgod at 4:38 PM on August 25, 2015


The character on it is Gudetama, the sad-ass egg. Here's a video of the notepad! I guess folding up like that is all it does.
posted by Metroid Baby at 4:41 PM on August 25, 2015


Googling found it. The way gachapon works is that there are a bunch of different things you can get, and you are urged to collect them all, thus extracting an additional log(N) factor of money out of you. This set has 6 different toys all themed around Gudetama, a weird egg character by Sanrio.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 4:45 PM on August 25, 2015


Welp, I guess I'll... doodle something on Gudetama, since this notepad is so small, I can't write much on it.

Thanks everyone!
posted by curagea at 4:57 PM on August 25, 2015


What's the note along the side? Hon seihin wa tabemono de wa gozaimasen? There is no food in this product?
posted by ctmf at 5:40 PM on August 25, 2015


There is no food in this product?

"This product is not edible."
posted by spacewrench at 5:54 PM on August 25, 2015


"This egg is sad, but not sad enough to wish to be eaten."
posted by wenestvedt at 8:06 AM on August 26, 2015


Here's an FPP about Gudetama and other anthropomorphic food characters from Japan.
posted by LobsterMitten at 12:21 PM on October 24, 2015


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