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Asahi Shimbun
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Asahi Shimbun
Turn the lever: Foreign tourists can't resist lure of capsule toys
No longer catering only to children, a store in Tokyo's Harajuku district offering about 1,700 capsule toy dispensers on its two floors drew Jo Hyeon-jeong in a recent day. The 25-year-old South Korean tourist said she visited the Capsule Lab outlet located in the Takeshita-dori shopping alley to look for figurines of Hello Kitty and characters from the "Chiikawa" manga and anime series. Jo said there are specialty stores in her country but Japanese shops offer more varieties that are cheap and cute. According to a staff member in charge of managing the shop operated by Capcom Co., the capsule toys were initially aimed at families. But there has been a growing demand from inbound tourists in recent years as seen by the many customers at the store on the weekday morning, many of whom were non-Japanese. SPECIALTY SHOPS SPROUTING UP Sixty years after the first plastic egg-shaped container tumbled to the bottom of the vending machine in Japan, capsule toys have continued to evolve to win the hearts of children and adults alike. Experiencing a boom for the fourth time, 'gacha gacha' toys are now available at specialty shops packed with foreign tourists. With gacha gacha toys becoming popular as souvenirs from Japan, overseas tourists now account for half of the customers. Capsule toys are usually sold in a price range between 300 yen ($2.10) and 500 yen, with some priced at 1,000 yen or more. "Previously, they were merely used to fill unused spots at commercial facilities and train stations, but there has been an increase in specialty stores since 2000," a staff member at Capsule Lab said. "They have gained popularity because of the special space in which customers can enjoy looking for their favorites from among many items." The Geo Group, which operates DVD rental shops and other businesses, has been operating Capsule Rakkyoku shops since 2022. It has been opening new outlets each year, aiming to operate 100 shops in the future. SEARCHING FOR 'NEXT BIG THING' Capsule toy makers are also making efforts in developing products. Industry leader T-Arts Co. releases new items from about 50 series every month. In recent years, pastel-colored, fluffy and cuddly products that are popular among women in their 20s and 30s have attracted attention. "Merchandise for which we go all out to bring out their cuteness are popular," said Kentaro Endo, senior general manager and head of the Capsule Toy and Candy Toy Division. When customers share photos of their capsule toys on social media, it creates a virtuous cycle in which others are captivated by their cuteness and want them for themselves, he added. Endo and his team monitor conversations on social media to seek inspiration for what will be the next big thing. Meanwhile, there has been an increasing number of gacha gacha toys produced in collaboration with other companies in recent years. T-Arts first collaborated with Japan Post Co. to jointly produce capsule toys in the motif of post office equipment. Then it worked with regional fixed-line carriers NTT East Corp. and NTT West Corp. to offer products modeled after public phones, more than 2.9 million units of which have been shipped. T-Arts has also joined hands with many other collaborative partners, including municipal governments. Taking note of the popularity, Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward office released Shina Gacha capsule toys themed on its local souvenirs. FOURTH BOOM According to T-Arts and other sources, the forerunner of capsule toy dispensers originated in the United States in 1930. Sales of capsule toys began in Japan in 1965 after Penny Sales Co. (present-day Penny Co.) imported the dispensers. Initially, they were set up in front of candy stores and other shops, gaining popularity among children. In the 1980s, erasers in the shape of characters from the "Kinnikuman" manga and anime series were all the rage. A wide variety of merchandise targeted for male customers have been released since then, including those featuring anime characters and trains. According to capsule toy critic Omatsu, a turning point came in 2012 when Kitan Club Co. released the Fuchico on the Cup figurine series. It features a female office worker in various poses that can be attached to the rims of glasses and cups. The series gained popularity through social media, attracting an increasing number of female customers. The capsule toy market continues to expand. According to the Japan Toy Association, the market was worth 64 billion yen in the fiscal year ending in March 2024, up 5 percent from the previous year. "We are in the middle of the fourth capsule toy boom," Omatsu said, explaining that it largely is due to specialty shops that grew in number during the COVID-19 pandemic to cut labor expenses. Specialty shops are also making their foray into foreign markets, he added. He continued, "Japanese people have a culture of collecting small things like capsule toys and being open to paying money to uncertain things such as 'omikuji' fortune slips. I think (capsule toys) have become popular among foreigners because they are 'so Japanese,' including that factor." (This article was written by Eriko Noda and Seri Ishikawa.)
Washington Post
2 hours ago
- Business
- Washington Post
ICE approves Georgia immigrant detention center following DOGE review
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is moving forward with a plan to build the nation's largest immigrant detention facility in southeast Georgia, according to Buddy Carter, a Republican who represents the state's 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. ICE has issued a modification to its contract with private prison firm Geo Group Inc. that will combine the company's Folkston detention center, an active facility that can hold up to 1,100 detainees, with D. Ray James, an idle former prison located on an adjacent property that can hold around 1,870 detainees, Carter said in a press release Friday.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Newark mayor sues feds over arrest outside ICE facility
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka speaks outside Peter Rodino Federal Courthouse while announcing a defamation suit against federal officials involved in his May arrest. (Sophie Nieto-Muñoz | New Jersey Monitor) Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is suing federal officials over his May 9 arrest outside an immigration detention center, alleging malicious prosecution and false arrest. He also accused Alina Habba, the acting U.S. Attorney of New Jersey, of defamation over a post on her personal social media account, in which she wrongly stated that Baraka trespassed and ignored multiple warnings from authorities to leave the Newark detention center property. 'To arrest me, to handcuff me, to drag me away, to take my fingerprints and a picture and mugshots for a class-C misdemeanor is egregious. For me to appear in a hearing and after the hearing, for the U.S. Marshals to rush in and basically to take my picture again is egregious and malicious in my mind,' he said Tuesday outside the federal courthouse in Newark. Baraka, one of six candidates vying to be the Democratic nominee in the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy, filed the federal lawsuit on the first day of early voting in the state. He said the timing is so that people are held responsible for it 'immediately.' Besides Habba, the 17-page complaint also named Ricky Patel, a supervising agent at Homeland Security Investigations, the agency that arrested Baraka. The mayor also filed a notice of his intent to sue the federal government, said Nancy Erika Smith, his attorney. 'Political prosecutions are for fascist countries, not the United States of America. Mayor Baraka was a target because he has stood up for the constitutional and human rights of all people, including immigrants,' Smith said. Baraka was arrested one week after Delaney Hall, now the largest detention center on the East Coast, opened its doors when he visited to check if its owner, Geo Group, had done the required inspections and secured a certificate of occupancy. The lawsuit details his arrest by the minute. He arrived at 1:42 p.m. and was invited eight minutes later by a Geo Group staffer inside the facility's gates, where he waited until 2:33 p.m., the complaint states. Patel ordered Baraka to leave and threatened to arrest him, and Baraka left the property at 2:38 p.m., the suit states. Three New Jersey House members on site for a facility tour joined the mayor and advocated for his entry. Five minutes later, about 20 armed, masked Department of Homeland Security agents swarmed Baraka and 'violently' arrested him without probable cause, the complaint says. He was taken to another DHS facility where agents photographed and fingerprinted him, an experience he called 'humiliating.' He spent five hours in custody. Before agents took Baraka to the DHS facility, Habba already posted on social media that Baraka 'has willingly chosen to disregard the law.' Later that evening, Habba also allegedly made false statements about his arrest on Fox News, and in public appearances with other DHS officials in the following days. The suit contends that Habba and Patel 'conspired' to promote 'false and defamatory' statements about what happened, including that Baraka stormed the facility. 'The false affidavit was made with malice, particularly seeking to assure that the evening news included videos of the Black mayor of Newark, New Jersey, being led away in handcuffs by federal officials,' the filing states. Baraka said Tuesday that race played a role in the incident. 'It's easy for people to believe that a mayor being arrested, especially a mayor that looks like me, has been arrested for something other than what just happened … When people see me in cuffs, they automatically believe I did something wrong, I was guilty,' he said. 'The reality is, I didn't do anything. I went down there for a press conference.' Habba attended a court hearing in Baraka's case, an unusual move for a U.S. attorney. But his charge was dismissed 13 days after his arrest, which he said he learned only after Habba announced on social media she planned to drop the charges. Judge André Espinosa rebuked the U.S. Attorney's Office while dismissing the charge with prejudice, urging attorneys to operate with a higher standard and avoid using their role to advance political agendas. The same day Baraka's case was dismissed, Habba charged Rep. LaMonica McIver with two felony counts of assaulting officers during the scuffle. McIver has called the move 'purely political.' Habba, Trump's personal attorney who he nominated to serve as interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, has also said she's investigating Gov. Phil Murphy and state Attorney General Matt Platkin over the state's ban on local law enforcement assisting in civil immigration enforcement. A spokesperson for Habba did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Habba took to social media Monday night to blast Baraka for suing her and offered him 'advice' to instead prioritize violent crime and public safety. 'Far better use of time for the great citizens of New Jersey,' she said. Smith responded by touting a drop in violent crime in Newark during Baraka's term as mayor. Baraka is seeking compensatory damages for pain, suffering, stress, humiliation, mental anguish, personal physical injury, physical sickness and damage to his reputation. 'I don't know if Alina Habba and Ricky Patel have enough resources to pay me for the damages they've caused me. At the end of the day, they should at least apologize — they should at least write me a letter and apologize to me,' he said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Alina Habba Gets a Taste of Her Own Medicine Over Arrested Dem Mayor
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is suing New Jersey's acting Attorney General Alina Habba and a Department of Homeland Security special agent on allegations of false arrest and malicious prosecution, following the dismissal of trespassing charges Habba had levied against him. In the 17-page filing Tuesday, Baraka's lawyers claimed that the Democratic mayor had been invited past the gates at Delaney Hall by an agent from Geo Group, a private prison company that manages the newly reopened ICE facility. Still, 20 DHS agents descended on the mayor after he exited the property, and detained him for more than five hours. During the chaotic arrest, DHS Special Agent Ricky Patel, who was listed as the other defendant, allegedly 'egged on' other agents to 'take him down' according to the filing. The lawsuit also alleged that Patel had delayed the submission of a charging document, unnecessarily extending Baraka's detainment. Within an hour of Baraka's arrest, and before filing any formal charges against him, Habba posted on X from her private social media account, claiming that the mayor had 'committed trespass' and 'willingly chosen to disregard the law.' Baraka's lawyers alleged that Habba had committed defamation, claiming that Trump's former lawyer had made 'false and defamatory statements' in a personal capacity, 'despite Habba's actual knowledge and reckless disregard of facts demonstrating his innocence.' Later, in a Fox News interview on May 9, Habba claimed that Baraka had 'refused to leave' Delaney Hall, and that he 'chose not to remove himself.' Last month, U.S. Judge Andre Espionosa agreed to dismiss the trespassing charges Habba had filed against Baraka. The lawsuit included a fuller transcript of Espoinosa's 10-minute admonition of Habba 'worrisome misstep' in Baraka's 'hasty arrest.' 'Your role is not to secure convictions at all cost, nor to satisfy public clamor, nor to advance political agendas,' Espionosa said. 'Your allegiance is to the impartial application of the law, to the pursuit of truth, and to upholding of due process for all.' Habba also dropped a misdemeanor charge against the mayor, but quickly followed up by charging New Jersey Representative LaMonica McIver, who was also present the day Baraka was arrested, with 'assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement.' McIver slammed the charges as 'purely political.' 'They mischaracterize and distort my actions, and are meant to criminalize and deter legislative oversight,' she said in a statement. This story has been updated.
Associated Press
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Newark mayor returns to immigration detention center days after trespassing arrest
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Newark Mayor Ras Baraka briefly returned Tuesday to the gates of the federal immigration detention center where he was arrested last week on trespassing charges. Baraka, a Democrat running for governor in the June 10 primary, was turned away from Delaney Hall, the facility where he was arrested Friday. He departed and stayed about a half hour away from the building, according to Witnesses said the arrest last week came after Baraka attempted to join three members of New Jersey's congressional delegation, Reps. Robert Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman, in attempting to enter the facility. Baraka, an outspoken opponent of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown and vocal opponent of the facility's opening, faces a court hearing on the trespassing charge on Thursday. He has denied the trespassing charge It wasn't immediately clear how Baraka's appearance at the gates Tuesday differed from Friday when he was arrested. He denied being on the detention facility's property, which is run by private prison operator Geo Group. Alina Habba, interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said on the social platform X that Baraka trespassed there again. In video of the Friday altercation shared with The Associated Press, a federal official in a jacket with the logo of the Homeland Security Investigations can be heard telling Baraka he could not enter the facility because 'you are not a Congress member.' Baraka then left the secure area, rejoining protesters on the public side of the gate. Video showed him speaking through the gate to a man in a suit, who said: 'They're talking about coming back to arrest you.' 'I'm not on their property. They can't come out on the street and arrest me,' Baraka replied. Minutes later several ICE agents, some wearing face coverings, surrounded him and others on the public side. As protesters cried out, 'Shame,' Baraka was dragged back through the gate in handcuffs. Delaney Hall is a two-story building next to a county prison and formerly operated as a halfway house. In February, ICE awarded a 15-year contract to The Geo Group Inc. to run the detention center. Geo valued the contract at $1 billion, in an unusually long and large agreement for ICE.
