Hello Kitty Gashapon watch

Today's watch is a cheap and cheerful one. I got it while on a trip to Japan out of one of their Gashapon (or Gachapon) machines for about 200 yen.

Gachapon is the Bandai brand name for a capsule toy machine. These machines are especially popular in Japan, and you can find places with hundreds of different types lined up along the walls. The machines are filled with plastic capsules, each containing a toy, model, watch etc. Inserting your money and turning the lever drops a random ball (so you can never plan what you'll get). Gachapon refers to the turning of the crank (gacha), and the noise of the toy falling (pon), and is also used to describe the prize.

This particular gachapon was for Hello Kitty LCD watches, and I won a blue version. The watch is a basic LCD watch with two buttons, and a square display set into a solid plastic bracelet. The Hello Kitty design is transfer applied to the bracelet, and was made in 2006. It is definitely designed for children, as the bracelet is small and stiff, so I can't get it on.

It appears to be intended to be disposable, as the unit is well sealed (there is no opening on the back). It may be possible to remove the module from the front but there is no obvious latch, so I thought I may damage the watch too much if I tried before blogging it.