Ultraman x Family Mart Winter Festa

Tsubaraya and convenience store chain Family Mart have partnered up on another Ultraman promotion.

Who's your Dada?

Stores across Tokyo (and I'm assuming the rest of Japan) are decked out with Ultraman displays, banners, posters, and other cool stuff. And of course there are exclusive goods, stickers, cards, and more.

Scenes from a store:

 More after the jump:

Ultraman themed food items!

Baltan and Ultraman stuffed steamed bread.

On to the promotions...

Inside the promotional brochure (the brochure's first page is the top photo in this post), there are tons of details. If you spend 700 yen at a Family Mart, you can get a card at the register. But the 700 yen has to be made up of products from the top left of the above image. I found that restrictive and expensive just to pull one card. Plus the product images are tiny, and there are no markings in the store indicating which ones are part of the event. So assembling 700 yen worth of stuff takes some doing.

After you pay, you get to choose from a mystery box.

Here are the different types of cards.

There are also instant winner cards that you can exchange at the store for the product shown on the other side.

Instant winner flip side

Two of the Ultraman cards

These cards aren't just for show. You can clip the corners and send in the little clipped parts to participate in lottery drawings. (What's a convenience store promotion in Japan without a good lottery component!)

Backside showing the lottery prizes.

For some prizes, you just need to send in one or two card clips, so the barrier to entry is pretty low. However, if you want a shot at the grand prize, you need to send in five clips. That means you need to spend at least 3500 yen at a Family Mart. And there is only one grand prize. So that's a pretty expensive ticket. But you get to eat and drink the stuff you bought. And you get the cards. Still, it isn't cheap.

But wait there's more! You don't actually need to buy anything for this one. Just pick up a brochure and bring it to the counter. Technically you're supposed to show them the middle page and identify what's different about it.

Check out the Ultrababy at the bottom. I think that's the answer. Actually, you can just go up to the counter and ask for a sticker. They aren't usually, um, sticklers (yeah I went there, so what!) about the finer points. ;)

Cool Ultraman sticker

The other sticker. It's a nice set. (Note: You can only get one sticker at a time at a store.)

I thought I'd show the receipt from one of my tries at the promotion. I like the way convenience stores print up special receipts during these events. For folks who are interested, to reach the 700 yen level, I bought a bag of Doritos, a small cylinder of Pringles Sour Cream & Onion chips (this promotion is so weird; that's the only Pringles flavor on the list), a can of Tory's Black coffee, and two packs of Hall's throat lozenges. So yeah, a weird list for sure.

 I sent in my two clips for a shot at a big Ultraman cushion. I'll post pics if I get one!