A large share of Japanese figures were never sold in a shop. They were handed out as prizes — through in-store lotteries, through arcade machines, or at events — and that route is the reason they can be hard to find outside Japan at all. The type also changes what a sensible secondhand listing looks like, because the packaging and paperwork differ.
The table separates the supply routes and what each one means when you are buying the piece years later.
How each prize figure type reaches a collector
Sort by any column, or type in the filter box to narrow the rows. The last two columns are live counts from our own shelves — not a market index, just what we physically have listed right now.
| Type | How it is distributed | Sold over the counter? | Packaging you should expect | What to check when buying secondhand | Our listings (USD) | In stock now | Browse |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ichiban Kuji (in-store lottery) | Buyers pay per ticket at a Japanese shop and draw a lettered prize tier; the run ends when the tickets do | No — you buy a draw, not a chosen figure | Prize-tier box, often marked with its letter | That the tier marking and any last-prize labelling match the figure inside | $86–$6,236 (9 listings) | 9 | See these → |
| Arcade / crane prize | Supplied to Japanese arcades as prize stock by the usual prize makers | No — won from a machine, not sold at retail | Plain prize box, frequently marked not for sale | Whether the original prize box survived, since these boxes were rarely kept | $114–$6,236 (5 listings) | 5 | See these → |
| Retail release | Ordered through hobby shops and online retailers on an announced date | Yes | Full retail box with the maker’s printing and inserts | That inserts, base and any bundled parts listed on the box are present | $163–$3,721 (45 listings) | 45 | See these → |
| Event / venue exclusive | Sold or given out only at a specific event, venue or campaign in Japan | Only at that event | Event-specific packaging, sometimes plain | Any event marking on the box, which is usually the only way to identify it later | — | 0 | Request one → |
On scarcity: we describe how each type was distributed, which is public and verifiable. We do not rate these types against each other for rarity or value — that varies piece by piece, and we would be guessing.
Which type suits how you collect?
If you want a specific figure, retail releases are the straightforward route: they were made to be bought, announced in advance, and their boxes were designed to be kept. If you like pieces that never had a shelf price at all, lottery and arcade prizes are exactly that — but you are buying whatever survived, so the condition of the figure and its box is the whole story.
Event exclusives sit at the far end: the sculpt may be shared with a general release, and what makes the piece distinct is the packaging or a small production difference. Read the listing photos rather than the name.
What we check before a prize figure goes on the site
Prize figures came out of boxes that were not built for storage, so we photograph the actual box, note whether it is present at all, and describe paint and joint condition as we find it. If a piece is missing a base or an accessory that its type would normally include, we say so in the listing rather than leaving you to discover it.
If what you are weighing up is condition rather than format, our condition and market liquidity guide and the value simulator both work from our own recorded sales, with the sample size shown next to every figure.
See these in stock, or ask us to find one
We currently have 59 prize and retail figures on the site, every one of them pre-owned, inspected by hand in Japan and photographed as it actually is. Browse them here →
If the exact version you want is not there — and with one-of-a-kind secondhand stock it often is not — tell us what you are after on our sourcing request page and we will look for it through our Japanese supply channels. You can also browse the demand catalogue to see what we actively source.
Published: 2026-08-18 · Updated: 2026-08-18 · by HD Store Japan. Product-line characteristics describe the lines in general; individual items vary. Price figures are our own current listings and recorded sales, shown with sample sizes as a reference — not a guaranteed valuation. Every piece we list is an authentic, pre-owned Japanese collectible, inspected hands-on in Japan and shipped from Japan. Questions? See our returns policy or contact us.
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