Cup no Fuchiko : Cuteness on the edge of the cup

Japan makes some seriously cute stuff. I have collected small figures on bottle caps of beverages, costly PVC models of Haruhi, but was oblivious to the cute phenomenon of Fuchiko. In my recent business visit to London, my colleague from Paris asked me if I knew of Fuchiko. Her question stumped me and I replied “no” and tried to search on Google. My colleague explained that her some French colleague from our Paris office had got some Fuchiko figures back from Japan as gifts for friends. Intrigued, Google search led me to the cute phenomenon of the small Fuchiko figures sitting in various positions on the edge of cups and also carried by travellers on their trips and vacations to take snaps on the backdrop of famous tourist spots!!!Cup no FuchikoYou can of course buy Fuchiko from Amazon, but I will introduce you to a interesting spot at Akihabara Station to buy Fuchiko figures. Yes, the land of rising sun is also the land of vending machines and Fuchiko has her own vending machine at Akihabara Station!!!!!

If you want to buy online and save yourself a trip to Akihabara access the links based on whether you are resident in Japan or outside of Japan
Resident outside of Japan : Cup no Fuchiko: Office Lady version
Cup no Fuchiko SUMMER collection
Resident in Japan? : カプセル コップのフチに舞い降りた天使 コップのフチ子 シークレット1種入り全7種セット

Notice a interesting vending machine next to the telephone boxes? Thats the one on JR Akihabara Station inside the station premises.Fuchiko - Edge of the cup vending machine at Akihabara. コップのフチ子Lets go closer. You can see various collections of Fuchiko, the popular Office Lady version, the summer collection and the peach collection etc. in the vending machine. Its a cheap and quick way to pick up Fuchiko figures for 200 yen for one.Fuchiko - Edge of the cup vending machine at Akihabara. コップのフチ子The cuteness of “Cup no Fuchiko” is when she is placed on a cup. She can sit quietly, try to climb the cup with all her strength, or hang from the cup as if she is exhausted. Looking at her just naturally soothes your heart. Born into the world as a capsule toy, Fuchiko is a big hit with 1.3 million being sold!!Fuchiko - Edge of the cup vending machine at Akihabara. コップのフチ子Fuchiko has various variations of seasons, festivals and other scenarios. Her Kimono figure is my personal favorite out of the very figures I have collected in the past three weeks. So cute, really. Got to place her all across my work desk in office very soon…. 
Fuchiko - Edge of the cup vending machine at Akihabara. コップのフチ子The vending machine is a pretty simple one, just pop two 100 yen coins and for 200 yen (1.5-2 USD) you can get one Fuchiko figure. You cannot select which figure you want to buy and every box which comes out for 200 yen is a surprise to be opened.Fuchiko - Edge of the cup vending machine at Akihabara. コップのフチ子One box at a time, one surprise.Fuchiko - Edge of the cup vending machine at Akihabara. コップのフチ子I have placed a few of my collections on my WiFi router, Fuchiko sitting on the corner and spilling coffee. My router!!!!!!Fuchiko コップのフチ子Placed her on my daily Starbucks coffee cup. Awwwwww. Japan and its culture of “cute” is just such a big reason why at age 40, I still keep collecting such cute, kid stuff.Fuchiko コップのフチ子Its been over a decade that I have been collecting such stuff. I bought my first Nendroid in 2009 and took the figure to India. One is a snap me having food on a Kingfisher Airlines in 2009 with my small cute companion….My first Nendroid I bought in 2009My Lupin figure collection from 2005…Lupin figure collection

2 Comments

  1. Reply

    I love those Fuchiko vending machines! I spotted some more in other places recently, like Asakusabashi. It’s so cool, you take the train and you never know when you’re going to find one 🙂

    • Reply

      Stila, that is so true. Discovering the machines in places you least expect them to be is the ultimate experience.

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