Gashapons galore! A little bit of Japan in London, Bandai Namco, the creators of Japan’s gashapons have opened several gashapon stores in the UK, including Bandai Namco Cross Camden, the biggest gachapon shop in Europe!
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The best place in the UK capital to get cute capsule toys, gashapon stores are springing up across London and you’ll find them everywhere, from Soho’s famous Old Compton Street to a new gashapon store at Victoria Station.
From Bandai Namco Cross London pictures to prices, here is our guide to the best gashapon stores in London, UK.
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Bandai Namco gachapon London locations
The biggest official gashapon store in the UK and Europe is Bandai Namco Cross Camden, located in North London at Camden Market.
New gachapon shops in London from Bandai Namco are popping up all the time. As of summer 2024, there are also gachapon stores at London Victoria Station, plus another Bandai Namco Cross gashapon store in Ealing Broadway shopping center in West London.
Incidentally, if you are looking for gashapons in central London, there is a small selection of gachapon capsule toy machines at Kissaten Bubble Tea store on Old Compton Street in Soho.
If you only have time to go one London gashapon store or are simply curious about capsule toys from Japan, we recommend going to the Bandai Namco Cross UK store below below for the biggest selection:
Bandai Namco Cross Store Camden, Units 16-18 / 100–101, The Stables Market, Chalk Farm Road, London NW1 8AH (map).
The Camden gashapon store is open daily from 10am to 7pm.
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Other UK Gashapon official store locations
Bandai Namco are rapidly expanding their UK store portfolio, outside of London.
As of Summer 2024, there are several Bandai Namco gachapon stores around the country including:
- Gashapon Newcastle – NAMCO Funscape Metrocentre in Gateshead
- Gashapon Norwich – Bandai Namco Funscape Norwich
- Gashapon Manchester – Bandai Namco Funscape at the Old Trafford Centre
- Gashapon Sheffield – Bandai Namco Funscape Meadowhall
- Gashapon Brighton – Bandai Namco Brighton
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What is a Gachapon / Gashapon toy in Japan?
Popular with otaku (オタク – Japanese pop culture) and visiting tourists, Gachapon machines in Japan are vending machines that dispense capsule toys in a small round plastic case.
Most gachapon machines and sub varieties have four to six types in each machine meaning you often don’t know which one you are going to get.
Gachapon / Gashapon toys originated in Japan in the 1960s, originally conceived by famous Japanese toy and video game manufacturer Bandai.
The word gachapon actually derives from the sounds made as you collect your capsule toy – ‘gacha / gasha’ for the ratchet noise as you crank the turning wheel on the vending machine – whilst ‘pon’ relates to the noise of your round capsule landing in the toy tray at the end. Cool!
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What is the Japanese word for Gachapon / Gashapon?
The word for Gashapon in Japanese is ガシャポン. They are also called gachapon which is ガチャポン in Japanese. The original term is trademarked by original manufacturer Bandai.
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Visiting London’s biggest gashapon store – Bandai Namco Cross
Newly opened in 2023, Europe’s biggest gachapon store – Bandai Namco Cross Camden recently opened in Camden Market and subsequent other London locations.
Located in the iconic Camden Stables, London’s flagship Bandai Namco Cross store is one of the best Japanese shops in London and has two floors of gachapon machines, anime and manga merchandise plus Japanese games galore.
On the upstairs level, you also find a cafe with Japanese tea and soft drinks and a huge trading card game store and lounge, selling Pokémon, One Piece and other manga merchandise.
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Gashapons galore
Based on our rough estimate, there must be at least 200 gashapon machines at Bandai Namco Cross.
You can get everything from cute cartoon characters like Miffy and Hello Kitty through to more random toys like animals in saunas or sumo wrestlers.
This is also a great place to get Taiko no Tatsujin Japanese drumming game miniature drum capsule toys – read about the cult of Taiko no Tatsujin drumming game in Japan here >
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London gashapon prices
When visiting the thousands of gachapon shops in Japan, it is always wise to bring a few 100 Yen coins, as they cost about 200 to 500 Yen in Japan (around £1 to £2.50 per gachapon).
However in London, official gashapons at Bandai Namco Cross start from around £4 per gachapon – so it is a bit more expensive but OK for a cute and kawaii toy.
Just be aware that most gashapon series have around 6 different toys / designs per dispenser and it is a lucky draw / blind box approach to what you get. If you want a specific toy from the range, you might have to try several times so it adds up.
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Bandai Namco Cross London features
As well as hundreds of gashapon toy capsule machines, there are other things to do in store including:
- Banpresto Official Shop – a Manga and cartoon character merchandise, selling awesome anime brands and kawaii plushies from brands like Q Posket, Brandista and Tomonui.
- One Piece Trading Card Lounge – From One Piece pirate parties to battle buddies and trading card tournaments, check out all the instore card events here >
- Sunstar Stationery – for all the cutest Kawaii gifts and comic book souvenirs
- Ichiban Kuji Official Shop – buy a random ticket, scratch it off and hope you win a ‘number 1’ prize (“Ichiban” means ‘no 1 in Japanese)
- MegaHouse Official Store – collectable custom models and finely detailed figures
- Tamagotchi stores – the classic electronic ‘pet’, Tamagotchi is back again available to buy via several vending machines.
The London gashapon store in Camden also has various pop-ups, recently hosting a Dragon Ball pop-up shop and an Animal Kaiser Battle Tournament.
Check the official Bandai Namco Cross UK site for more details >
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