Why I love Purikura

In Japan, purikura (プリクラ) refers to a photo sticker booth or the product of such a photo booth. The name is a shortened form of the registered trademark Purinto Kurabu (print club in English), jointly developed by Atlus and Sega (Wikipedia).

Purikura booth (Photo source: google image)

Purikura machines can be found all over Japan, usually in entertainment or game areas. Purikura is a very popular activity, not only among Japanese girls and young adults, but also among foreigners (mainly girls) who are living in Japan.

How does Purikura work?

You and your friends enter the booth and decide what theme to use for your pictures. The instructions are in Japanese. So, if you are not familiar with purikura, you need the help of a Japanese friend to understand how it works. After that, you then need to insert four 100 yen coins into the machine to start the process. Within a few seconds, you can start the picture taking. After picture taking, you will then decorate the pictures on computer screen outside the photo booth. The decoration time is the most exciting part of this activity. You can add frames, stamps, text, and lovely designs to cutify your pictures. There are a lot of designs to choose from, and the possibilities are endless. You can get printed copies of the pictures within a few minutes. You also have the option to send the photos to your phone email address, so you can download the pictures from your phone.

Purikura is a machine that has some kind of a magic. It makes your skin smooth and your eyes big. It makes everyone looks "kawaii" (cute), though sometimes it makes a guy looks like a gay :).

I had my first purikura experience last year with the girls in one of our bonding moments, one Saturday afternoon in Shinsaibashi Osaka. I didn't know where to look, so I looked at the machine and not the camera. It was a lot of fun, lovely experience!

The next time we had our purikura, I already knew where to look.

Family Purikura

Family purikura

Mom and Daughter bonding

Group Purikura

If the group is big, just like our group below, it's a little bit difficult to take pictures because the booth is narrow. Everyone must stick together and must find a creative way to fit inside the frame.

MPD group purikura. Mori is missing in this pic :). Now, you know what I mean.

This is a scanned copy, so the picture quality is not that good.