Purikura

In Japan, **purikura** (プリクラ ?) refers
to a photo sticker booth or the product of such a photo booth. The name
is a shortened form of the registered trademark Purinto Kurabu (プリント倶楽部 ?). The term derives from the English print club.

**Photo sticker booths** or **photo sticker machines** are a
special type of photo booth that produce photo stickers. Still
maintaining huge popularity in Japan, they have spread throughout Asia
to Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines,
China, Vietnam, and Thailand. They have also been imported to Australia.
 Some have also begun appearing in the United States and Canada although
 they failed to make any impression in Europe when introduced in the mid
 1990s.

## Operation

After money has been inserted in the machine, multiple customers can
enter the booth and pose for a set number of exposures. Some common
options include the ability to alter lighting and backdrops while the
newest versions offer features such as cameras from a variety of angles,
 fans, seats, and blue screen effects. Some establishments even offer costumes and wigs for customers to borrow.
Once the pictures have been taken, the customers select the pictures that they wish to keep and customize them using a touch screen or pen-sensitive
 screen. The touch screen then displays a vast array of options such as
virtual stamps, pictures, clip art, colorful backdrops, borders, and
pens that can be superimposed on the photographs.

Features that can be found in some sticker machines are customizing
the beauty of the customers such as brightening the pictures, making the
 eyes sparkle more, changing the hair, bringing a more reddish color to
the lips, and fixing any blemishes by having them blurred. Other
features include cutting out the original background and replacing it
with a different background. Certain backgrounds may be chosen so when
the machine prints out the picture, the final sticker will be shiny with
 sparkles.

Finally, the number and size of the pictures to be printed are
chosen, and the pictures print out on a glossy full-color 10 X 15 cm
sheet to be cut up and divided among the group of customers. Some photo
booths also allow the pictures to be sent to customers' mobile phones.
Other photo places have a scanner and laptop at the cashiers desk for
customers to scan and copy their original picture before they cut and
divide the pictures amongst their group.

## Gyaru & Purikura

Gyaru and Gyaru culture has long been associated with purikura. Gyaru Circles, as well as general groups of Gyaru friends, are known to collect purikura for both personal photobooks/photo albums and to share on social media. The very essence of purikura, with its many stickers, pen styles and sparkles, remains to this day a true example of Gyaru culture. Due to the popularity of purikura, in and out of Gyaru culture, there are now many apps for smart phones that allow you to create purikura-type photographs with your existing photos.

In western culture, purikura machines had a stint of popularity around the late 90s to early 2000s. Unfortunately there has been a decrease in the amount of purikura machines around, often forcing Gaijin Gyaru to travel very far if they wish to take purikura with friends/their Gyarusa (Gyaru circle).

## Rescources

* Location of Purikura machines worldwide
* Princess Camera app for iphone