YAMAGATA -- Insert three 100 yen coins, turn a knob, and out comes a pack of brand-name rice.
A type of vending machine known as gacha-gacha or gachapon that usually dispenses capsule toys has been adapted to sell rice -- an idea that began with a student of Tohoku University of Art and Design in Yamagata city who hopes more young people will cook and eat rice.
The handy pack contains a perfect-sized serving of rice.
"I want more people in my generation to experience the deliciousness of Yamagata rice through gacha-gacha," said the creator of the "Yama no Okome Gacha" project, Yuika Kato, 21, a junior in the university's graphic design department.
The machine randomly discharges a pack of one of the three brands of rice harvested in Yamagata Prefecture: Haenuki, Tsuyahime or Koshihikari. Each pack contains 300 grams of rice.
Last year, Kato worked on a class assignment of "How to promote Yamagata Prefecture's charms in autumn." While brainstorming, she hit on the fact that "People around me rarely cook and eat rice. Some of them even don't have a rice cooker," she recalled.
Autumn is the harvest season of rice, and Kato launched a project with "How to make more young people eat rice grown in the prefecture" as a theme.
She listed possible reasons why young people don't buy rice, based on the lifestyle environment of people in her generation. One of the problems is how people buy rice. Rice available at supermarkets usually sells per kilogram.
"Many young people don't have a car, and carrying it can be a burden," Kato said.
The other problem is the portion. It's too much to eat, and some of her friends couldn't finish it and ended up letting it get infested by weevils.
Taking the portion problem into account, she also considered a method for casually purchasing rice with a "just-for-fun attitude." And gacha-gacha, she thought, was the way.
Turning idea into business
Kato's friend Kiyotaka Suto, 21, a junior in the university's planning initiative department, worked hard to turn Kato's idea into a reality, such as by securing rice suppliers.
When he received the project idea from Kato, Suto thought, "The problems to be solved were so clear that I thought that her idea would definitely bear fruit."
At first, he bought a secondhand gacha-gacha machine via an online auction. Suto submitted a written plan for purchasing rice -- the point of the project -- to local company JA Tendo Foods in Tendo, in the same prefecture, through the connection of his parents being rice farmers in the same city.
The company's employee in charge said, "We connected with their passion to spread word of the deliciousness of prefectural rice and also the innovative idea of using a gacha-gacha machine."
The students then obtained a commitment from the company for full partnership and could purchase cube-type packed rice. The pre-washed rice saves steps for cooking.
Plastic balls are a characteristic of gacha-gacha. However, they could not find capsules of adequate size to contain 300 grams of rice. So they decided not to put it in capsules.
Daichi Yamamoto, 20, a junior in the university's product design department, remodeled the gacha-gacha machine to have cube-type products come out smoothly.
Test-marketing begins
The rice vending machine was test-marketed during the university's festival earlier in October and has since been set up on its campus where it will remain until Nov. 3. The machine then will be set up at Yamagata University's co-op shop from Nov. 5-17.
Suto and his fellow students are considering collecting money through crowdfunding online and plan to set up machines at michi no eki roadside rest areas in the prefecture.
"I want customers to enjoy the thrill of which brand they'll be getting and also want young people to enjoy the taste of freshly cooked rice," Kato said.
Suto also said, "I want to convey the taste of one of Yamagata's big charms through the use of gacha-gacha, which is popular among people of all ages."
The address for crowdfunding is https://camp-fire.jp/projects/view/96543
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