Where?

Akihabara and pigeon.

That's right.

And there's a pigeon over there.

It's a true story.

We're going to be walking down Chuo Avenue looking at the Gachapon but eventually making our way to Gachapon Kaikan.

I haven't been there in a very long time and Leo and I are going to buy some Gachapon.

Join us for a little adventure through Akihabara.

That's right.

Let's go.

Chuo Avenue is really busy on the weekends and even on the weekdays these days since tourism returned in 2022 it can get quite crowded.

Walking underneath the Sobu line up there the train rolling back and forth through Tokyo and that scene of Sega World now called Gigo in the background also very iconic of this part of Tokyo.

Leo and I are on the lookout for Gachapon capsule toy machines that are everywhere around Japan in particular in Akihabara and the Yodobashi camera building next to Akihabara station on the sixth floor.

There are thousands of them.

They're stacked three high.

You never know what you're going to find around the corner.

It's pretty cool in here literally because if you're outside in summer in Japan it's so hot it's nice to be inside here looking for the best Gachapon.

They also have very convenient coin machines which you need to get all the goodies from inside.

But I like to spread it around a lot because you never know what you're going to find out on the streets of Akihabara.

So we got to keep on going to this intersection next to the big camera where there are also lots of machines.

All right.

So this is the intersection of soft map here and it is really crowded today.

But you can see on the right side they've got a ton of Gachapon machines.

Although this is not the one that I particularly like the most.

They have a pretty good selection.

You found it?

Okay go look.

Let's see if we find anything interesting.

You see anything interesting?

This way Leo.

How about this way?

A popcorn.

It looks like Spiderman.

What's funny?

He likes the Space Invaders.

Oh no.

Oh yeah.

Look at that.

Up there.

Do you see it?

Sorry.

What is that?

You see all sorts of things in Akihabara.

It's a meat.

Over there?

Yeah.

Back there?

Yeah.

It's a...

They have some meat.

Steak.

Oh yeah.

We have it.

The Tomy car.

Yeah.

We have it.

Yeah.

We don't have the blue one.

Okay.

We got to get it.

We got to go and get it.

Leo collects Tomy car which are Japanese versions of the Matchbox car.

These little collectible cars that are in all of the different makers in Japan and some international ones.

We find a lot of really interesting cars on the streets that zoom past in Akihabara.

Especially down Chuo Avenue here.

Don't walk there.

Okay.

I don't walk there.

We have to look for the hotel.

That's where Laura is.

She's at the hotel.

Oh.

There it is.

Right there.

Alright.

Leo.

We are here.

This is Gachapon Kaikan.

It's been here forever.

For ages.

And joining me is Laura and Anita.

Right?

Yes.

Yes.

Yeah.

Coming all the way from Ecuador today.

And Los Angeles. And we are going to go inside and take a look at some of the Gachapon.

But it's really up to Leo.

What do you want for your Gachapon?

What do you want?

Car?

Tomy car.

Tomy car.

But we'll see if we got something.

Let's go inside.

Oh.

Look at the cat.

Oh.

Nice.

Gachapon Kaikan might be one of the most famous.

If not the first place to have so many Gachapon in one spot.

I'm filming with a 360 camera.

So you're going to get some pretty interesting perspectives inside of here.

But I hope it gives you a very good overview of what this place is like.

Leo.

Come this way.

Oh.

So this is all these figures.

Everybody is renting a box here.

And you can put anything you want inside that's a collectible.

And if you see something that somebody likes, you tell the owner and you can sell it here.

And of course the money gets to the person who's renting the box.

But it's like renting your own little store.

Oh.

Nice.

Yeah.

Have you done Gachapon before?

I never have.

What?

I can't wait to have grandchildren.

So I have a reason to do it.

Yeah.

Come on Kobe.

Yeah.

I know.

Exactly.

Yeah.

But these toys are really cool though.

I feel like I'm five again.

I love it.

It's like it defines Japan in here.

Japan's subculture.

All the figures and toys.

Oh.

Yeah.

Okay.

What's over here?

Yeah.

What about over here?

One thing that I noticed in Akihabara is that there weren't a lot of Gachapon machines for toddlers.

Kids under three or four years old.

Keep that in mind.

A lot of the subject matter might be a little bit more mature.

It's better to look at supermarkets or places where mothers and kids might be.

That's where they usually put the stuff for little kids like Anpanman and some of the other characters.

But you might find something that the kids like inside of here.

Oh yeah.

What is it?

Do you want it?

But it's not real fruit.

Is that okay?

We needed to get some coins.

Here's the coin changer.

You can change 1,500 yen coins here.

Here you go.

Okay.

All right.

Tomikara.

Let's go get it.

Yes.

Put it in.

This one too.

This one is nice.

Okay.

Put the money in.

Okay.

Try to turn it.

Here.

Gachapon.

Can you do it?

Okay.

Put more coins.

Okay.

Try.

Turn it.

This way.

Whoa!

Which one did you get?

What is that?

I don't know.

Let's open it.

How do you open it?

What is it?

Oh no!

You have to put it together.

It's like a model car.

It'll eventually look like this, but you have to put it together.

We can do this at home.

This is complicated.

You're going to make it.

Yeah.

All right.

Let's put it away.

We can make it at the restaurant maybe.

Yeah.

That's something fun we can do.

Oh, cool.

This is Laura's first gachapon.

Yes.

I'll put all three?

Yeah. 300 yen.

Yes.

And twist it.

Twist it.

Gachapon.

Gachapon.

Right there.

Go ahead.

Get it, Leo.

Oh, it's in there.

Yes.

He's running away.

Oh, okay.

Oh, look.

It's one of the ends of the cars.

It's a train.

Oh, nice.

They made it so you have to do it like six times to get the whole train.

Oh, no.

Really cool.

That's kind of cool.

I like the train one.

Yeah.

All right.

So I thought that that was a really interesting experience.

I haven't been in here for years.

It's really crowded in there.

Maybe it's better to be on the street where it's a little bit wider.

So your son is studying here in Japan?

Yeah, he is.

He's studying Japanese at Ryoma College in Kochi, Japan.

He's 22 years old.

Oh, okay.

Yes.

He graduates in March 2026.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

How's he doing?

He's excellent.

He's doing very well.

He's thriving.

He has his own studio apartment.

And he's actually ahead of the class, but they won't promote him. Yeah.

What do you mean by promote?

Like to the next level?

To the next level, yeah.

Oh, okay.

In some ways, he's glad because he knows that if he gets promoted, there'll be a lot more school work.

That's true.

Yeah.

But you want to live here in Japan, you said.

Yeah, I'd like to.

I love living in Japan.

And living here would be nice, too.

As a jet?

Yes.

I know.

Laura supports also on Patreon, but she's also just applied to be in the jet program, right?

I will.

Oh, in this month starts the application process.

I'm looking forward to it.

All right.

Good.

So this is, Laura, before she moves here to Japan.

Yes.

It's going to be really fun.

All right.

Let's have a little bit more look around Akihabara.

Yeah.

The only downside is I might forget my Spanish.

Oh, no.

Yeah.

I think like knowing a second language or third language before coming here, it really helps you to pick up the Japanese easier, I think.

Yes.

I agree.

Yes.

These are like old cell phones.

I want this one.

Yeah.

I want this.

I get this one for me.