Eye on the prize: bags of rice, daily essentials up for grabs at Japanese arcade

An amusement centre in Japan is drawing crowds by offering bags of rice as claw machine prizes – a quirky marketing move that has struck a chord with consumers grappling with rising food costs.

Since late May, the arcade in Kawagoe city, Saitama prefecture, has stocked its machines with 900-gram bags of rice to entice players with a shot at winning an increasingly expensive daily staple.

The rice bags are the latest additions to the prizes customers can win at the machines. Over the past six months, the arcade has stocked its claw machines with daily essentials, offering a range of items from fresh produce like melons and strawberries to household staples such as bread and toilet paper.

The rice initiative was a hit with residents. The initial batch of 90 packs sold out within days and prompted the store to reorder from the supplier.

Hiroshi Fukasawa, the 43-year-old store manager, told The Mainichi newspaper that the goal was for locals to have some fun even with the skyrocketing price of rice.

  

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