Star Wars: Rogue One Theater Goods in Japan

Along with just about everywhere else, Star Wars: Rogue One was recently released in Japan. An age-old tradition here is to sell a bunch of movie-themed goods at the theater, to the point of creating a pop-up shop for the biggest films.

For Rogue One, the product roll out was much smaller than for 2015's The Force Awakens. In fact, the theater I went to was even selling TFA goods as well as standard toy store Star Wars merch alongside the small number of Rogue-specific goods. Anyway, a few gems emerged. Here's a look at the offerings.

Sample movie program. For more than half a century, special programs have been made in Japan to be sold during theatrical releases..

Cool selection of 3D glasses.

 More after the jump:

Star Wars x Japan Post Office Hologram + Lenticular New Year's Cards

The Japanese post office has a knack for putting out visually stunning Star Wars items. As part of their massive 2017 New Year's collection, they've put out two choices to send Star Wars fans in your life.

The first, shown above, is a 3D hologram. The image is based on one of the original iconic movie posters from 1977.

The back of the card. Typically for New Year's cards, people just write a few words of well wishes for the coming year.

The second card has a lenticular image with Darth Vader in the foreground and images from Episodes 1-6 in the background.

A tilt of the card shows the secondary image, with Vader's saber extending and retracting and variant images from the movies in the background.

post card back

Classic Star Wars poster image

Star Wars The Force Awakens DVD Release Build-up in Japan

Japan is one of those countries where physical media is still strong. There are lots of DVD rental shops, stores, and even pop-up shops, like the above photo. But it feels like it's been a long time since there has been a film event of note.

Star Wars Episode VII provided lots of buzz last year, with tons of branding tie-ins and a healthy build-up leading to the theatrical release. Now that the DVD release has been nicely timed for Star Wars Day, 5/4 (May the Forth be with you!) we're seeing a lot of posters and displays promoting the day.

This decked out display is in front of a shop that sells DVDs and CDs. They got their craft on with this one..

Past movies on disc.

Finn is bemoaning the fact that The Force Awakens DVD can't be bought anywhere yet.

DVD case mockup

Cool BB-8 promo giveaway.

Here's a poster display at Tsutaya, a very large DVD rental chain.

In front of the shop, Star Wars gets top billing.

One point worth noting is even after 20 years of deflation it is still very expensive (1800 yen) to see a movie at a theater. This could be a key reason why so many rental shops are still in business.

Star Wars Pachinko Machine in Tokyo

Pachinko parlors are one of the most ubiquitous features of the Tokyo (and many other cities in Japan) landscape. The range of pachinko, slot, and pachislot (combination of the two) machines is impressive, as is the work that goes into the design, graphics, and game play.

Here's a video of a Star Wars pachinko machine:

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Theater Goods in Japan

Whenever there's a big movie release in Japan (and even for some smaller releases), a slew of goods are sold at shops inside the theaters. Even before the release of the new Star Wars film, large parts of these shops were dedicated to old and new Star Wars goods. Here's a video I shot of a theater in Shinjuku, Tokyo:

Star Wars x Lotte Bikkuriman Special Edition set with prizes!

Lotte has just released its third wave of Star Wars Bikkuriman stickers. This is labeled the "Special Edition" series. Original trilogy purists can rest easy. There's no Jabba in the hanger deck, CG alien singers, or Greedo shooting first. The set is basically a medley of the six movies that have come out, with a number of interesting monochrome and gold designs added in.

Like the previous Star Wars Bikkuriman sets, there are two packaging variants:

 Closeups:

 More after the jump:

Star Wars in Japan - The Freebies Awaken!

We are in full force Star Wars beast mode right now, and the boom is in full stride. In Japan, one of the traditions of these booms is freebies. This goes back to the first film:

On the left-hand side of the Japanese issue of Star Wars #1, you can see an ad for Morinaga caramel. It's an old company that is still going strong. Back in the day (in 1978), they released a big series of candy premium toys. You'd get one in each box of Star Wars branded caramels.

Back to the present, let's look at some modern giveaways and store promotions for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Furuta

Furuta is another company that has been stashing toys in sweets for a long time.

For these, the toy is literally inside a chocolate egg.

Well, it's inside this inner egg.

 More after the jump:

Star Wars in Japan - 7-11 Lottery Prize Stand

There's no doubt about it. The Star Wars boom is in full force in Japan. At just about every store you go to, there's a branded item or promotion going on. I even saw a Shlick razor POP at a hardware store. Each razor came with a little plastic attachment shaped like a character.

A more interesting display I came across today was at a 7-11. They regularly run lottery promotions, tied to anime, video games, and so on. The way it works is you get a little voucher, bring it to the counter, and pay whatever it costs. (In this case, it's 620 yen per voucher, which is fairly expensive for these promotions.) Then you pull a ticket out of the box, look at your letter, and choose a prize in that category.

Here is the range of prizes.

 Some prize closeups:

The biggest prizes - "A" and "B".

 More after the jump:

Star Wars Kirin drinks in Japan

The Star Wars boom continues in Japan. To be honest, the marketing wave hasn't been too bombastic (yet). Instead of seeing overwhelming waves of products at a single store, they seem to be spread around a bit - a few baked goods here, a few sweets here, some toys there.

Star Wars licensing and food & drink products have gone hand in glove since the beginning. Recently in Japan, Kirin has launched a series of drinks. Here are pics of some I recently spotted in Tokyo.

Mets

This is a type of carbonated soda, I think. The Star Wars villains have red-themed packaging labeled Red Force, while the heroes make up the Blue Force.

 More after the jump:

Star Wars x Ginza Cozy Corner Japanese Cookies, Cakes, and more!

In anticipation of the new film, the Star Wars marketing machine in Japan is now in full effect. Recently, a chain of dessert shops called Ginza Cozy Corner has released a slew of licensed Star Wars tie in desserts.
 

They have two types of desserts: freshly made and packaged. First, here's a look at the cakes, puddings, and other goodies in the refrigerated display cases.

This is a lot of 9 Star Wars themed cakes.

 More after the jump:

Star Wars x Lotte in Japan: The Boom Awakens!

 

Every so often in Japan, when a show, movie, character, or something else becomes super popular, they call it a "boom." Some examples are Batman in the late 60s (thanks to the TV show), "super cars" in the 70s-80s. and Superman in the late 70s (thanks to the movie). Companies are extremely good at stoking fervor for the boom with marketing blitzes and product tie ins.

A few months ago in Japan, you could feel that the machine was revving up to start delivering anything and everything Star Wars to the nations' eyeballs. Giant posters appeared in Shibuya station, and there was even a Star Wars newspaper that appeared in convenience stores.

And now, with Episode 7 just a few months away, the product flow has begun, starting with branded snacks by Lotte.

Star Wars Episodes 4, 5, and 6 Bikkuriman snack + sticker.

More after the jump:

Star Wars Japanese keshi gomu (rubber eraser) figures

 

A bunch of Star Wars keshi gomu figures were made in Japan in the late 70's, after the first Star Wars movie came out. Most were released in gachapon machines or at little candy shops which also sold toys.

The above batch of figures were made by Takara. Here are some up-close pics:

A lot of the early Takara keshi are fairly godawful to look at, but I just darn plum lub em, I do!

 More after the jump:

Vintage Star Wars Morinaga Candy Premiums

After the first Star Wars film was released in Japan, Morinaga released a wide assortment of "candy premium" toys. You'd get one inside each Star Wars branded box of caramels.

Here are some of the cool goods that were released:

New from Star Case - Scum Hunter

Scum Hunter is the latest figure in Star Case's line of sofubi figures. A couple of versions have been released already.

The unpainted white "prototype color" version set for release this month. It will be the third release of the figure.

Box.

Previous release with super cool box based on the vintage ESB Star Wars Popy boxes.

Also, if you haven't caught it yet, here's Jason Ho's latest Star Case video: