Look, we had to try one of these capsule toy stores while in Japan - it's practically required tourist behavior at this point - and CAPSULE LAB on Harajuku's Takeshita Street seemed as good a place as any. I still don't fully get the hype around these things, but watching people go absolutely bonkers over tiny plastic toys in bubbles is kind of fascinating.

The whole setup is pretty clever marketing - the satisfying click and turn of the machine, the suspense of what you'll get, the way they display everything so it looks irresistible. But at the end of the day, you're paying good money for tiny plastic toys that would probably cost a fraction if they weren't in capsules.

Still, it's one of those "when in Rome" moments in Japan. Just maybe limit yourself to one or two turns unless you want to explain to folks back home why half your suitcase is full of plastic gacha toys!