As Mina Kamata watches her child sitting in a stroller, she intently moves the lever on a traditional arcade machine in a Tokyo suburb, trying to grab an unusual prize: a package of toilet paper instead of the usual stuffed toys.
With the mounting pressures resulting from inflation on Japanese families' budgets and their standard of living, major gaming halls are moving towards creating a formula that combines shopping and entertainment, by providing claw machines (crane games) filled with basic goods, from eggs and rice to washing powder, in an experience that allows families to obtain their daily necessities and enjoy their time outside the home, without feeling forced to choose between purchasing necessities and entertainment.
Kamata, a 25-year-old housewife, told Agence France-Presse that she won the prize after only two attempts, each costing 100 yen ($0.64). She added: “If you are a little lucky, it is equivalent to buying at discounted prices.”
Experts believe that this phenomenon represents a response to the extended wave of inflation that Japan is witnessing, as prices have been rising at rates exceeding wage increases for years.
Naoko Koga, a specialist in consumer behavior at the NLI Research Institute, said: “Spending on food and daily products has been declining continuously for 5 years. Because these goods have become among the items that families target for reduction in order to reduce spending.”
She added, “Retailers are trying to make shopping fun to encourage consumers to buy and relieve their feelings of guilt about spending.”
Claw machines were booming in Japan even before the recent wave of inflation.
According to the Japan Entertainment Industry Association, the size of the prize gaming market has more than doubled in ten years, reaching 417.7 billion yen ($2.7 billion) in 2024, and now represents about 70 percent of gaming hall revenues.
In recent years, the percentage of families searching for daily life necessities among the customers of these halls has increased.
In the city of Kawasaki, located in the southern suburbs of Tokyo, hundreds of machines are lined up in one of the branches of the specialized “Binx” chain, and they are filled with bottles of soft drinks, bags of candy and detergents.
“When a family spends 10,000 yen on a day of karaoke or bowling, they are enjoying themselves and it ends there,” said Teruaki Tsuchiya, an executive at Tesco, which operates the Binks chain. “In Binks, you come home with toilet paper, bottles, and toys.”
He added: “In light of inflation, parents choose entertainment methods that provide the greatest value for money.”
The company, which operates five branches in the greater Tokyo area and says the number of visitors exceeds one million people annually, last year abandoned video games and machines that operate with token coins, to refocus its activity on claw machines. She says that her revenues from selling household products in this way have increased to 2.6 times their level two years ago.
Tsuchiya explained that the business model is similar to that of the Costco and IKEA chains, which rely on large stores on the outskirts of cities, where land is less expensive, and loyal customers come in their cars and spend relatively larger amounts.
In recent months, Japan's inflation rate has remained around the central bank's target of 2 percent. Although this percentage seems modest compared to inflation rates in many advanced economies, it represents a shock to a country accustomed to decades of stagnant or declining prices.
After Chiaki Sugai, 56, who works in a sushi restaurant, spent two or three hours in front of the machines, she pushed a huge cart stacked with the prizes she had won, which cost about 8,000 yen.
She said: “I used to buy a lot of snacks from small stores, but now I get them here.”
Sachiko Iokawa, 49, also seemed satisfied with her loot: two boxes of luxury eggs at a lower price than those available in supermarkets. “I'm usually careful not to overspend, but here I'm allowing myself some pampering,” she said.
Major retail companies have joined this trend. In October 2025, Ion Fantasy, a company specializing in entertainment and a subsidiary of the giant Ion Group, opened the first space dedicated to prizes that include food and household products, targeting mothers in particular.
The company currently manages seven spaces of this type, and plans to open about 60 spaces by 2030.
“At a time when consumers have become very cost-sensitive, we offer an experience that combines fun with the excitement of getting a good deal,” said Yuya Shiozawa, a director at Aeon Fantasy.
He added: “We notice, for example, that some customers go to the nearby supermarket to buy ingredients to complete the dinner meal, after winning vegetables.”
Koga believes that this trend may continue even after the current wave of inflation subsides, as traditional stores seek to find new reasons to attract customers, who are increasingly turning to purchasing household supplies through subscriptions to the Amazon website.
She expects stores to expand “initiatives aimed at attracting customers, whether through claw machines or through other means.”
