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Nihon Box January 2022 Review

Hello everyone and welcome back to a new Nihon Box review. We are now well underway into 2022, so let’s begin this review with that all important information on just who Nihon Box is!

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.

There are savings to be had with the monthly subscriptions, as 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 that came about last year, 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 last 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 last 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

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So let’s get underway with seeing just what was included in this particular Nihon Box. I will also be doing something a bit different with these reviews, as I will try to find the same products online based on UK websites and see if the value is indeed there with Nihon Box. So first up we have the ‘Pokémon Kids Pikachu Pika Pika’ figure. This is a collection of thumb sized Pikachu figures that were released last February in celebration of Pokémons 25th anniversary. With 12 to collect, each Nihon Box received one at random.

This figure can also be found over on Dekai Anime for £3.99 (https://www.dekaianime.com/anime-merchandise/pokemon-pikachu-pika-pika-assembly-mini-figures.html)

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The second item out of the box is this Coreful figure from The Quintessential Quintuplets, in celebration of the upcoming movie that is hitting the big screen in Japan this Summer. This figure range has five to collect, with each box receiving one of the sisters. All appear to be in their school uniforms, and I must admit they would make a lovely display if you were able to get all five together. The poses they all have, seem to portray each of their personalities, however this is still a series I have yet to delve into. These figures are also made by Taito and you would be more inclined to see them as arcade prizes in Japan, however they are still pretty decent quality.

You can find this particular figure going for £19.99 over on Dekai Anime, which is still up for January pre-order. Meaning many of us have just gotten this figure weeks before its general release in the U.K

(https://www.dekaianime.com/shop-by-anime/the-quintessential-quintuplets-nakano-yotsuba-seifuku-ver.-coreful-figure-taito.html)

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Our third item comes straight from My Hero Academia, with their own Fuwakororin. This is a series of small round plush keychains, with six characters to collect. The characters appear all short and deformed, making it a rather interesting character appearance for this range. The characters included in this series include Deku, Bakugo, All Might, Shoto, Ochako and Tsuyu. I wasn’t able to find this particular series on any known anime merch websites that I am aware of, but would price it around the £10 to £12 mark.

However I did find it on ebay for an extortionate amount! For Bakugo in particular, which was the one I received, the seller was asking for €26.89 and another €26.89 for postage! For the combined cost alone of this one small item you could just order your own Nihon Box and still have change left over!

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Our fourth item is this rather stylish Haikyu shirt, featuring Hinata and Kageyama. Now this really is a treat as it has been some time since we have had a tshirt included in the box, not forgetting also getting a figure as well! This particular shirt is black in color, featuring our two main protagonists Hinata and Kageyama with Haikyu!! written lengthways down the center. Now I can not find this particular shirt online, however I can not see it being any way under £20 to buy. It seems to be of fine quality and well printed, looking forward to trying this one on.

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Our fifth item is perfect for a quick snack, with this entire packet of Okoshi. A traditional puffed rice snack in Japan, with three different flavors featuring in this packet – including shiso plum, matcha and peanuts. Also this particular product was made in Kyoto, by a company that has been producing them since 1890. However once again I was unable to find these anyway online for sale, but would price it around the £4 to £5 mark.

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Our sixth item is this authentic Daruma rice bowl, which is incredibly detailed as you can see from the images above. The inside of the bowl features a very ghibli esque Daruma, with kanji painted inside, which I believe translates to:

‘Fall seven times, stand up eight.’

Which is a sentence commonly associated with Daruma’s, due to their designs and being a traditional symbol of the New Year. The outside of the bowl also has the same Daruma design and sentence, but in color. It really is a rather delightful edition to the ever growing collection and in fact you can also find it on Amazon for £15.

(https://www.amazon.co.uk/Daruma-12-4cm-RICE-BOWL-White-porcelain/dp/B00RPZLTOY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2796V825RR8Y4&currency=GBP&keywords=daruma%20rice%20bowl&qid=1642971521&sprefix=daruma%20rice%20bowl%2Caps%2C46&sr=8-1)

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Our final item for this box is 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 at the moment. 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.

So there we have it folks, that is everything from our first box of 2022. So at the end of the day this box is €40.45, throw on another €10 to cover customs, for a grand total of €50.45.

Now onto how much value we get in this box, I will also be using the Google currency converter:

Pokémon Kids Pikachu Pika Pika’ figure is £3.99/€4.80

Coreful figure from The Quintessential Quintuplets is £19.99/€24.04

My Hero Academia Fuwakororin about £10/€12.03

Haikyu shirt about £20/€24.05

Okoshi snack about £5/€6.01

Daruma rice bowl is £15/€18.04

1000 Yen Yatta Japan gift card is £6.47/€7.78

For a total of £80.45/€96.75

So yeah the value is certainly there in this box!

Now over to you guys, did you like this box? 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 “Nakama”, and each pamphlet in every box also includes a detailed section called “Discover Japan”. This month’s topic was about the many Japanese New Year proverbs. 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!

https://www.nihonbox.com/en

 

 

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