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The story
Kura Sushi’s collaboration with Chiikawa began handing out limited-quantity “original tea cups” starting September 4, but it turns out multiple listings for them appeared on the flea-market app “Mercari” even before in-store distribution began — and some had already sold. In response to an inquiry from Bengo4.com News, Kura Sushi said it is treating the listings as illegal “no-stock” sales and is proceeding with reports to the platform operator. On the 5channel Geinou/Sports News+ thread, reactions ranged from criticism of Mercari’s lax seller verification, to discussion of the odds of winning the in-store lottery, to pointed reminders that past figure giveaways saw the same kind of trouble.
Kura Sushi’s collaboration with Chiikawa began handing out limited-quantity “original tea cups” on September 4. But before distribution even started, multiple listings turned up on the flea-market app “Mercari,” and it turned out some had already sold.
Why were goods that supposedly hadn’t even been handed out in stores yet already being sold?
On September 4, Kura Sushi told Bengo4.com News that it was aware of the pre-distribution listings, saying, “We are treating these as illegal ‘no-stock’ listings and are reporting them to the platform operator.”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
It's actually pretty well-made though, so a fake would probably get spotted
Same with McDonald's Happy Meal toys — they call it random but you always pull the one you least want. Never the one you're actually after. Makes you wonder if the good ones get quietly pulled out beforehand.
Head office is involved in this, so the investigation's just going to get quietly buried.
With scalping this out of control already, wouldn't a second or third Mercari just spring up, or people would simply deal with each other directly?
More like "sell it all off before the store officially bans resale." Probably thinking, "everyone's doing it anyway, there's no way they'll actually hand out harsh punishment."
People who genuinely love Kura Sushi's not-that-great sushi will still go and enjoy it. At a store where nobody's skimming the prizes, you can still win figures from the "Bikkura Pon" lottery game, and honestly the seared cheese salmon is pretty good too. And at some rural location far from the station that you can only reach by car, the prizes tend to go unclaimed anyway — probably no shady staff siphoning them off there either (wishful thinking).
Even the in-store banner flags (not for sale) are being listed
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HRRZK38bYAE6_lH.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HRRZK4zaAAAYMB6.jpg
What a world we live in. Though it does prove there's a huge fanbase for this all across Japan. And it's been popular for quite a long stretch now too — rather than fading out, the fandom looks like it's still only growing.
What are people even going to do with it after buying it? Five years from now they'll dig it out of storage and think, "why on earth did I buy this?"
Last time, with the figures, the part-timers already figured out it's all talk with no real follow-through (and management can't afford to have staff quit over it), so this is basically hopeless now. Guess they've got no choice but to let it be a lawless zone lol. Chiikawa's a Fuji TV thing, right? Both sides are so sloppy that nobody can rein it in.
The anime airs on Fuji TV, but the rights are firmly held by the original creator, so Fuji has zero involvement here this time ('A`). More importantly, regarding Kura Sushi's shambolic prize management — there's a theory going around (lol) that the creator got so fed up she drew a manga about it. This might be the end of the Kura Sushi tie-up, and worst case Chiikawa could end up moving over to Sushiro or Hamazushi?
https://x.com/ebichiri365591/status/2095510318323806506
Tried to direct-link the manga image and it already triggered a multi-post warning — guess it's been reposted that many times already.
Same goes for Demon Slayer, also a Fuji property — Ufotable got a one-year prison sentence and a 30-million-yen fine for hiding merchandise sales revenue.
If the company managed things that thoroughly, this wouldn't be happening in the first place.
Anyone who's worked a part-time job at a restaurant or similar knows — there's no way they manage giveaway items like this with that kind of strict control.
At most about 2,000 per store — it's a scramble.
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You actually have to win (feels like about a 20% chance)
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Then out of that pool, you still have to land the specific figure you actually want
Given Mercari's notorious reputation, that would actually land, wouldn't it?
According to Kura Sushi, the items are stored somewhere part-timers can't get to — meaning it'd have to be the store manager or a full-time employee.
And what exactly is the problem? Resellers ("sedorā") get the item to real fans who are willing to pay for it. They price it specifically so it doesn't end up in the hands of broke NEETs. Enough with the slander already.
They're not the police or a bank — there's only so much control they can exercise here.
Background and key points of this discussion
Kura Sushi’s collaborations with Chiikawa have repeatedly stirred controversy before over how figures were distributed and over uneven stock between stores, and this time’s tea cups — another “first-come, first-served” giveaway item — have a structure that practically invites resale. The thread split between those suspecting store staff of quietly diverting stock, and those who saw it as simply someone exploiting a loophole through “no-stock” listings. No-stock listing is a method where a seller lists an item without actually having it in hand, only acquiring and shipping it after it sells — a violation of the flea-market app’s terms, but in practice there’s little effective way to identify and stop the sellers doing it. Kura Sushi has said only that it’s treating this as an illegal listing and pursuing reports, and as of September 4 it hasn’t been confirmed whether any internal wrongdoing was actually involved in smuggling out the goods. This piece leaves out posts that name and expose specific store employees or individuals, but it’s worth keeping in mind, as a reader, that this is exactly the kind of topic where speculation-driven finger-pointing spreads easily.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Kura Sushi’s Chiikawa tie-up causes another stir — this time limited-edition Chiikawa tea cups appeared on Mercari before distribution even began… some already sold, company investigating.”
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