You deposit a 500円玉 (gohyaku-en dama, ¥500 coin) and twist the knob: ガチャ … ガチャ … ポン！ (gacha … gacha … pon!) — gotcha! It’s been just over 60 years since カプセルトイ (kapuseru toi, capsule toys) were introduced to Japan from the United States. The machines are variably known as ガシャポン (gashapon), ガチャガチャ (gacha-gacha) or simply ガチャ (gacha) — names inspired by the ガチャ sound of the crank turning and the ポン (pon) of the capsule dropping.
But ガチャ isn’t just about what comes out of the machine. As its popularity has grown, so has the language used to talk about it. Try asking your Japanese friends, 最近何にハマってる？(Saikin nani ni hamatteru?
What are you into recently?) They may tell you, ガチャにハマってる (Gacha ni hamatteru, I’m into capsule toys). The verb ハマる (hamaru) literally means to get stuck in something, but it’s also a casual way of saying “be into” or “be hooked on.” Japanese has taken this idea a step further, creating a shorthand for extreme fan activities. The first kanji from 活動 (katsudō, activities) appears in common Japanese terms such as 就活 (shūkatsu, job hunting), 婚活 (konkatsu, searching for a marriage partner) and 終活 (shūkatsu, end-of-life preparation).
More recently, it has been tacked onto different words to indicate devotion to a particular pursuit or obsession. The most familiar example of this newer usage is 推し活 (oshikatsu), which refers to avidly supporting a favorite celebrity or character, but ガチャ活 (gacha-katsu, hunting down and collecting capsule toys) is also popular. The more specific the obsession, the more specific the 活 can become.
For ぬいぐるみ (nuigurumi, plush toy) fans, that means ぬい活 (nui-katsu), the practice of taking photos and videos of your plushies at your favorite cafe or while you travel. That leads us to another 活: ちい活 (chī-katsu). The surprise hit of this year’s summer box office was an animated film titled 「映画ちいかわ 人魚の島のひみつ」 (Eiga Chiikawa Ningyo no Shima no Himitsu, “Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of Mermaid Island”), and its 映画グッズ (eiga guzzu, film merchandise) were highly sought after.
Thus ちい活 is the act of hunting down キャラクターグッズ (kyarakutā guzzu, character merchandise) related to “Chiikawa.” That includes ガチャガチャ, ぬいぐるみ and めじるしチャーム (mejirushi chāmu, small charms you can attach to your bag or umbrella). But the thrill of the hunt can quickly turn competitive. Last month, a めじるしチャーム featuring different colors of Yoshi the dinosaur from “Super Mario Bros.” was in such high demand that some stores couldn’t handle the crowds trying to get one from their capsule machines.
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