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Gacha capsule machines now dispense perfumes in Japan

Oona McGee May 24, 2022
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Spin the wheel of fortune on your fragrance — you never know which one you’ll get.

If you’re in the market for a new signature scent but fell overwhelmed by all the choices out there, why not let the gacha gods choose your fragrance for you?

That’s the idea behind the new perfume gacha machines at Nose Shop, which has seven locations around the country, although these machines can only be found at their Shibuya, Yokohama, and Osaka locations.

We headed down to the branch in Shibuya to see what it was all about, and when we arrived, there was a giant nose there to greet us.

The Nose Shop stocks a wide variety of perfumes, some of which can only be purchased here.

▼ How cool is this perfume in a spray bottle?

What really stands out in the sleek white space here are the two gacha machines, filled with bright green capsules containing mystery fragrances.

At 700 yen (US$5.47) a pop, this is a really affordable way to take a pricey scent home with you, as each capsule contains a random mini-sized vial filled with 1.5-2 millilitres (0.05-0.07 ounces) of perfume.

Peering inside the machine adds to the excitement of using it, as you can see some of the vials are packaged in boxes inside the capsules, showing there’s a wide variety of perfumes up for grabs in this game of chance.

Unlike most gacha, which take ordinary coins, these ones require a special coin, which you purchase for 700 yen at the counter.

Once you have the coin in your hand, you can turn the wheel of fate on the machine to receive your mystery fragrance.

This was the first time we’d ever purchased perfume from a gacha machine, and staff were on hand to open the capsule for us and introduce us to our new scent.

▼ Ta daaa!

The perfume we received was “Eau de Yuzu“, which, according to staff, was produced by Patricia de Nicolai, a female perfumer from a well-known family in the French perfume world.

▼ Our fateful scent.

Staff gave us a preview of the scent from a full-sized bottle in the store so we could know what to expect when we used it at home. The fragrance was fruity fresh, with the Japanese citrus bright and pronounced in the top note, making us think of summer.

It smelled delightful, so we stopped to give thanks to the gacha gods for bringing us together.

Eau de Yuzu by Nicolai Parfumeur Createur is a Citrus Aromatic fragrance launched in 2020, and the 100-millilitre bottle retails for 18,700 yen (US$146.25).

That’s 18,000 yen more than what we paid for our little vial, so we felt like we’d received a bargain! There were a variety of other Nicolai fragrances on offer as well, so you never know which one the gacha gods might introduce you to.

There are other brands of perfume inside the gacha machines as well, so it really is up to chance which one you’ll get. And if you’re not near the Nose Shop, they also offer the gacha service at their online store, with fragrances sorted by type so you’ll be able to align with a partner that’s compatible, although the rest will remain a mystery until you meet.

It’s a fun way to try out new fragrances, and if you’re looking for another unusual scent, you can always try Mother Milk, which is said to be irresistible to babies.

Related: Nose Shop
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[ Read in Japanese ]