Tiny travel guides are our latest Japanese gacha capsule toy obsession

Taking pocket-sized to complete new extremes. 

Very like the Lonely Planet journey guides are the go-to useful resource for English-speaking travellers, in Japan the Chikyu no Arukikata (“Easy methods to Stroll the Earth”) sequence is the bible for worldwide jetsetters.

Just like the Lonely Planet books, these information-heavy guides might be weighty volumes to take abroad with you, so the smaller they will make them, the higher. That’s why, after we heard that the Chikyu no Arukikata sequence had been miniaturised into teeny tiny palm-sized variations, we instantly got down to purchase them. 

▼ Easy methods to Stroll the Earth: Paris and Surrounding Areas

The tiny books are the newest addition to Bandai’s “Mame Gasha Guide” capsule toy sequence. “Mame”, which interprets to “bean” in English, is usually used to explain small, bean-sized issues, and these “mame” books have been even smaller than we thought they’d be after we lastly obtained our palms, or fingers, on them!

Every one is about 5 centimetres (2 inches) lengthy and three.3 centimetres huge, which is about the identical measurement as a matchbox, or barely smaller.

Regardless of their tiny sizes, the contents of every e-book are authentically replicated, which was a implausible shock. The web page above, for instance, describes the Louvre Museum, in teeny tiny element. These books could also be small, however they’re huge on data.

▼ Parisian sweets by no means seemed extra lovely!

▼ Every small quantity accommodates over 120 pages, printed in full color.

There aren’t any dummy pages to pad the volumes out, so you can throw a bunch of those in your pocket and have all the knowledge it’s worthwhile to stroll the globe with simply your pockets and the garments you’re carrying.

▼ There are 4 journey guides to gather, masking Paris, New York, Hawaii and Tokyo.

▼ Shinjuku, the house of our information crew, makes an look within the Tokyo version.

The pamphlet that comes with every e-book states that the knowledge printed contained in the guides comes from the editions revealed between April and September 2020. It additionally says that “some elements are troublesome to learn as a result of font measurement”, they usually’re not mistaken.

Lots of pages might be learn by the bare eye, however a number of the advantageous print might be exhausting to decipher. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to all the time use a magnifying glass or take a photograph and zoom in on the picture to learn all of the little particulars.

The tiny journey guides are fantastically made and enjoyable to flick by means of, and are moderately priced at 500 yen (US$3.65) every. The books went on sale at Bandai’s gasha capsule toy machines nationwide from July, so preserve an eye fixed out for them throughout your travels.

Should you’re within the temper for extra miniature tomes, you’ll be able to refill on these equally tiny Showa-era books as properly!

Photographs ©SoraNews24
● Wish to hear about SoraNews24’s newest articles as quickly as they’re revealed? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
[ Read in Japanese ]