King of Tokyo
We are now in full swing into this festive season and I am unsure as to when this particular review will be going up on the website – so either way I hope you are all in a jolly mood!
Now before I even had the review for the November box up on the site, the December edition of Nihon Box was already on my doorstep. The staff over in the warehouse has been working flat out in order to ship this month’s box off a few weeks earlier, so everyone would have it in time for Christmas. So without further ado, let’s get started with the usual speel of how you can sign up for your very own Nihon Box.
Nihon Box is a Japanese monthly subscription service that handpicks at least 6 items each month that are almost exclusive to Japan and ships them straight to your door. Their items are a mixture of Otaku Anime related merchandise and figures, as well as traditional Japanese items, from sweets to tableware. All of this is available to subscribe to monthly, just keep reading along to see just how affordable it can be.
Like SoKawaii, the more months you pay upfront the cheaper the price for individual boxes will be. https://www.nihonbox.com/en
Monthly is €29.99 plus shipping costs
3 Months is a single payment of €86.97, making each box €28.99, plus shipping costs.
6 Months is a single payment of €170.94, making each box €28.49, plus shipping costs.
Due to the latest European VAT legislation, the overall cost after shipping has increased slightly. The folks behind Nihon Box have done all they can to make this transition as simple as possible, so they have taken the necessary steps & changes in order to include the VAT directly in the subscription’s price. This change will normally be effective starting from the next renewal of your subscription, with the addition of the VAT in the final price (19% for Germany). And from August of this year, as a small gift of appreciation to their overseas customers they will be including a 1000yen gift card to their YattaJapan.com store. As an idea of how much the charge has gone up, prior to August I was paying €32.89 a month. The new price I pay now is €40.45 a month, which is a nice increase but I believe the value is still there within the box. Now once it arrived in Ireland, I have been charged customs through An Post. Totalling just under €9euro the first month, with this particular box being around the €10 mark on top of the €40.45 I pay each month, making this a rather expensive price hike in the end. However this is all due to inflation and the recent customs changes within the EU, whilst Nihon Box is still cramming in as much value into the box as possible from their side.
Here is a link to their FAQ page, just in case you’re wondering if they ship to your country: https://www.nihonbox.com/en/nihonbox/faq
Our first item this month is a Shaman King figure from Banpresto. Seeing as Shaman King has had a remake just this year from Netflix, the merch and figures have begun to appear at a steady pace. So fair play to Nihon Box for including these figures in the final box of the year. With three characters available, including main man Yoh Asakura, his brother Hao and even Yoh’s fiancée Anna Kyoyama.
Our next item is from the infamous Dragon Ball franchise, with this Shenron towel. This towel is more of a long, narrow hand towel. Although it does very much look like a cool scarf. It also resembles the color of a christmas tree, so why not include it in the December box! Also who doesn’t want a towel of a mighty dragon?!
Following in Dragon Balls footsteps, is one of the more recent big hits from Shonen Jump – with Jujutsu Kaisen. This dark fantasy, supernatural adventure follows a young high school student named Yuji Itadori as he joins a secret organization in order to kill a powerful curse that has possessed him. This is a series I have yet to jump into myself, so let me know in the comments below or across our social media what your opinions are on Jujutsu Kaisen. So Nihon Box has included a plush in every box this month, to celebrate the release of the first Jujutsu Kaisen film in cinemas over in Japan. With four character plushies to collect, including Yuji Itadori, Gojo Satoru, Megumi Fushiguro and Nobara Kugisaki. They are a handy size, perfect to put on a shelf, seem to be well stitched together and dressed. I’m sure any JJK fan would be happy to own one of these.
Our next item is pretty damn well special, as it’s a 3D puzzle of Tokyo Tower. Even more amazing and something I did not realize until reading the leaflet, is that when you take it out of the packaging, the building parts are arranged in a way that they spell out Tokyo in Kanji. So in fact this item is actually known as a Kanji Model kit of Tokyo Tower. However I do have to say that although it was simple enough to put together, getting it out of the packaging and trying to remove all the little plastic bits that held it together – was a bit of a nuisance. This would be no issue at all for those that have had experience with model kits like Gundam.
Moving right along, we have the return of Kirby and his Limited Edition Beauty Care range. We have had this same exact range before where we received hand cream, this time it’s back with lip cream. The packaging is just adorable and would make a lovely little gift, or even just used for display. The design also celebrates five different prefectures in Japan, including Okinawa, Kyoto, Yokohama, Osaka and Hokkaido. Only one of which is available in every box.
Next up, is a nod towards the new year as we all received a Tiger Dorei Statuette, to symbolize 2022 – The year of the Tiger. Those of you that have enjoyed the Fruits Basket franchise, will be all too familiar with the Chinese Zodiac and their animal spirits. Whereas over here in the West we are more familiar with the astrology zodiac, where the time of year you are born points out your star sign. In Japan, your zodiac animal is determined by what year you are born. With it coming full circle every 12 years to begin again. This particular statuette has a small bell inside, comes with its own little pedestal and traditional looking folding screen for some decorative background art. This is a lovely piece of Japanese culture to own and one day, I would like to own the rest of the zodiac animals in the same design.
We are almost at the end of this box, so hold on just a bit longer. Our latest recurring product has been a 1000 Yen gift card from Yatta Japan, which can be used on their website. Yatta Japan is also run by the same folks behind Nihon Box, where you can pre-order figures, buy Japanese snacks and even issues of Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine! The voucher can be used at check out, on all items except pre-orders. So watch out for that folks, also you can only use one gift card per transaction. Shipping is also a bit pricey for those of us in Ireland, as they only offer express shipping. Also don’t forget that you will have to pay Customs separately for anything from outside the EU through An Post when it arrives in the country. So it all adds up unfortunately.
Our final item this month was a small gift to every subscriber, that even came nicely packaged up in this decorative envelope. Inside are five Christmas treats, including Christmas Fugashi, Chocolate Umaibo, New Mochi Taro, Kyabetsu Taro and a mini Matcha flavored Kit-Kat! And that, dear folks, is everything that was included in December’s edition of Nihon Box!
Did you like it? If so, comment down below or tag us on our social media to let us know what was your favorite item and if you have gotten your own subscription. Nihon Box always does their best to follow the latest anime trends as well as finding items from fan favorite shows in order to always appeal to their customer base. With items from Jujutsu Kaisen, Shaman King And Dragon Ball Z! They not only source out some decent quality figures and plushies, but they also make sure that each month their box represents another unique aspect of Japan – from its food, to its culture, art, history and beliefs. It’s a well rounded box, for both anime and cultural fans. This box’s theme was “King of Tokyo”, and each pamphlet in every box also includes a detailed section called “Discover Japan”. This month’s topic was about the extravagant way that Japan has adopted the Christmas holiday and how they give it its own unique twist. It’s details such as these that make this subscription box so unique and talked about.
For more information on how you can order your own box, look to the top of this review and head over to the link below so you can sign up today!
