Culture of Purikura

  When you live in Japan with a group of teenagers, what you should know is the “print club” machine which was called Purikura among Japanese. It is an indispensable part of visual anthropology, especially in Japan. I have been Japan for 3 months and I think I have already taken Purikura for more than 30 times. It cost only 400yen per time and you can have a fun memory with your friends. I would like to find out more about the popularity of Purikura. Why and what made it everywhere.

  Because of the theme I chose, I interviewed a Japanese girl Eriko with a “puricyou”(notes of purikura). She just took Purikura very often and she will tidy up all of them and write something like diary beside it. It is time consuming. She just treat Purikura as a treasury .

  According to Eriko, Purikura machine is a secret place where you can take pictures with your friends secretly. No one disturb and no one looking at you. You can do anything that was bashful to do in front of others.

(for example, it is year of rabbit, and we just do a rabbit face inside the purikura. )

(both of us want to have a boyfriend but it is hard to said it outside. So we just find it in the purikura.)

You can do many things inside the secret place. For example there are couples kissing inside the machine and someone doing funning face.

  And, it is fun to take picture with a group of people. Because it is so narrow inside the machine, everyone just stick together and try their best not to block other and not to be block by other. Everyone screaming inside the machine. It is a very nice memory with friends. And more, Purikura is a machine with magic. It makes your skin white and smooth, it makes your eyes big and twinkling. Everyone become “Kawaii” in the picture. It is the cheapest way to become beauty, for a moment.

  After photo taking, it is the time Eriko most enjoying. You can draw picture and write something in the magic photos. It is so fun to write a daily n the photos and write something crazy on it. You can make it as the way you like. The newest version is that you can even change your hair color, your size and color of eyes.

(In this photo, we just write down: we love the one older than us! With

the number means the ideal age of boyfriend)

  As Purikura is cheap and easy to find, it become the popular activities in younger’s generation. At least, I would like to end this post with a Purikura. Could you find anything wrong in this picture?