Gacha

Hands up if you can’t answer the question what the heck “gachapon” refers to.

Chances are you will.

Just to refresh your declining memories (or maybe that's just mine), gacha is the onomatopoeia for the sound of the capsule toys falling from a vending machine, also named gachapon. Remember that familiar sound gacha, in the not too distant past, when you made a clockwise twist after inserting a coin into a machine? The greatest attraction is the suspense after the sound of “gacha.”

You’ll never know what you’re going to get until you crack open the plastic capsule, even though it’s part of a defined set of toys like Pokémon. We were brought back to the memories of gachapon during our Taiwan trip when my daughter lost a gacha toy. That’s a treasured rabbit toy of hers. My wife and I were sure my daughter won’t forget about the incident. She never did. To help her make sense of grief and the loss of a loved one, we decided to coax her into exploring new opportunities. Gachapons aren’t as ubiquitous in Taiwan as in Japan, but we were able to locate a handful of gachapon shops for Jasmine to try her luck on.

Don't get me wrong - I was not trying to get back the same rabbit toy and she knew she won’t. We simply let her experience one gacha after another. One surprise after another. With a smile on her face, she learned to give thanks for each gacha, and to expect the unexpected.

Nothing expensive. Nothing complicated. But completely fun.