My New Hobby Puri-Kura

Hello & long time no update!

I have wanted to keep you guys up to date on my fun adventures, like going to Shinjuku, Kabuki-cho, and the volcano at Hakone, but I just haven't had the time. I even got to visit the Trajal and HTC school campuses in Tokyo and see a whole bunch of my old students and friends.

Bull all about that stuff later...

This post I decided to fill you all in on my new and possibly favorite Japanese hobby (for the moment at least). Its called プリクラ (puri-kura) and I have mentioned it before in my stories.

Puri-kura is a very popular activity among young Japanese people living in or close to cities (hmm, I wonder if they have it out in the boondocks too...?) and is something I have engaged in almost every time I go out with friends.

Puri-kura is the Japanese short-ification and cute-ification of the pseudo-English term "Print Club". I guess over the years saying "purinto kurabu" was too cumbersome so everyone just uses the first two syllables of each word. From the English term of origin you may be able to guess that we are talking about photo booths - but these are photo booths unlike any I ever saw or used in the States.

You find these large and elaborately colorful booths in arcades or game-centers, they usually have names like "Pink Fantasy", "Poison Princess", or "Sony Picture Adventure", and are decorated with stylized models with heavy make-up and eyes three sizes too huge. But if you can get over their superficially intimidating qualities they are a hell of a lot of fun.

Here are some quote I stole from wikipedia about puri-kura and the link if you care to read more:

"Common options include the ability to alter lighting and back drops while the
newest versions offer features such as fans and bluescreen effects ... Customers
select the pictures that they wish to keep and customize them using a touch
screen or pen-sensitive screen. The touch screen then displays a vast array of
options such as virtual stamps, pictures, clip art, colourful backdrops,
borders, and pens that can be superimposed on the photographs ... The pictures
print out on a glossy full-color 4 X 6 inch sheet to be cut up and divided among
the group of customers. Some photo booths also allow the pictures to be sent to
customers' mobile phones."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_booth

The three main reasons why I have grown to love puri-kura and wish it was more popular in Seattle are as such:

1. Like I said, its a hell of a lot of fun, and you get all those effects to make you look your best and decorate them however you like.




2. It is surprisingly cheap for the quality and amount of the product you get back. I usually have only done it with one other person (its rare that you see someone do puri-kura alone) making the cost 200 yen (roughly $2) each. If you do it with a larger group like I have with a total of 5 the individual cost becomes next to nill.




3. Last but not least its a great way to make and keep memories with your friends. You can write the date, location, event, or special note on the pictures, you can decorate them however you want, and since they become stickers you can keep you memories anywhere you want (^-^)
   

If you ever get the opportunity to do puri-kura with some friends I highly recommend it. I already have quite the collection going, will probably make more still, and plan to store them all in a cute little album I got.

Till next time, which will probably be soon, because I miss you all so much!