Purikura

Today topic is all about Purikura(プリクラ). In Japan it refer to a photo sticker booth/photo booth. In Singapore Purikura is known as "Neoprint"  I am unsure where does this name come from, since primary school I have been following people to call it neoprint.

During my primary school days neoprint machine are common and you can find it almost in every shopping centre, I will have my picture taken almost every week with my friend but now the only place I know that have neoprint machine shop is Bugis Junction.

Neoprint machine is a special type of photo booth machine that produce photo stickers, it has a very huge popularity in Japan. 

How to operate?
Coin will be inserted to the machine and customer can enter the booth and pose for a couple of pictures.

How many people can it fit?
It can fit as many people as you can squeeze.

How much does it cost?
Cheapest I've seen is $10, there will never be a machine that exceed $20
Average cost is $13  

After the picture have been taken the machine will tell you where to go for customizing your picture, you will be using a sensitive-screen pen on a touch screen.
You can then add sticker, wording, date, clip art, colourful backdrop, borders or anything you like that they have. Some machine have special feature that can change your facial shape, make your blemish disappear, make your legs longer, make your eyes bigger and many weird feature that can enhance your look.

Finally you can choose the number and size of the picture you want to be printed, later you can wait at one side for your photo to be develop then bring to the counter(if there is) to have your picture cut/laminate and then divided among yourself.

Soft Copy?
Some machine allow user to send the photo to their mobile phone but I'm not sure how does it work, else if you have a scanner you can scan and copy your photo into your device.
Some cashier desk will have a scanner for customer to scan and copy the picture












Purikura/NeoPrint TIP:
  • Avoid wearing clothes which are green colour because clothing may be replace with the background.
  • Every machine is Japanese language if you don't understand then approach the staff for help
  • Discussion pose/picture decoration beforehand as the machine run by time limit
  • Remember to leave some space so that you can add some decoration to your photo later