Purikura...

I know Purikura machines are popular among teenagers, girls especially. However I was wondering, is it kinda... "not cool" to use purikura machines after a certain age?

I've heard of older characters in manga using puricura machines. My Japanese pen pal from Aomori sends me puricura of her and friends all the time. It's extremely colorful, and extremely popular! I've even seen advertising for puricura software to be used at home. It was featured in a Japanese Seventeen magazine.

Lisa is asking is it "uncool" AFTER a certain age. For example its popular with teenagers but what about 20somthings?

I think it is un-cool after you leave... let's say, senior high school, so beyond 18, it will be considered "un-cool." College students (18 -22) might still do it on some occasions, but nowadays with so many mobile phones equipped with a camera, that's what people naturally shift to I guess.

Hmm..I don't think there is an age. I mean over here in the U.S. you still see older couples going into a photo booth to take a cute picture together right? So I don't think it's a big deal ^_^ I took lots when I visited my girlfriend and I'm 21 ^_^ I like them since it's just a nice quick way to save a memory.

But yes cell phones are definitly taking over..her phone has so many funny and cute pictures to put around a photo she enjoys using that as well.

But as far as getting to old..I don't really think so ^_^

I don't think there's an age,too.
I think you're also saying "Reading comics is childish", "Miyazaki Anime is for child only".
Puricula is just a small picture which everybody can have fun with.
Your old stereotype is uncool.

Surely, lots of adults hop into those 3 min. photo machines to get your authentic pictures taken, like they do in the French movie "Amelie".

But Purikura is completely different. They've got these *cute* and bubbly designs in wild colors to frame your photos with, plus you can draw pictures and write notes on 'em if you wannu! :D

More than that, the orders that the machines give you goes so quick that you feel like you're being said like, "Whoever can't keep up with this speed is not qualified to Purikura!" lol :D

You can read comics slow, but it's quite hard for me to barge into those teenagers and get some Purikura fast.

Me and my friends ranging from mid 30s to mid 40s once took a Purikura as a total joke to attach on a B'day gift, and it felt like we were in Disneyland with Micky caps and Goofy ears on! Loads of fun though! :D

Last year, a group of girls n guys aged 15-17 came from tokyo to my town in australia for a two week exchange program. they showed us purikura and my friends and i loved it. my friends and i then went on a return school excursion over there, and asked if we could do some purikura. when we went, there was no groups of girls any older than us, they were about 18 or younger. but there were couples who were in their 20s who did purikura to give to each other. I also noticed, that all of the examples of purikura on the machines featured people no older than 18

I still would go, even if I were 'too old'. I'm always youg @ heart

Well, i had an exchange student from japan who showed me a purikura of her family, (her parents, brother and sister)
I dont think people really care how old you are if you take a purikura, its probs just up to personal taste ^-^

As a former high school teacher in Japan, I'd say that high school is the peak of coolness and frequency of taking purikura. Some of my female students took them every week and Mondays were always purikura trading day. And you should see some of their purikura books. I calculated that they take about 50,000 yen worth of them a year per person.

As for when it's no longer cool to take purikura, many of my Japanese friends continue to enjoy taking them well into their 30's. I would imagine that it is more of a generational thing since the people that grew up with purikura continue to take them. It's become a part of their culture that isn't necessarily part of the culture of the previous generations.

I was a high school teacher in Japan too, and I agree with that person. All my 20 and 30-something friends still do purikura. It's not a big deal at all. When I was a teacher, I made all the students give me a purikura of themselves (or just a regular photo). So now I have about 300 of them which helped to learn their names. I'll be able to remember them when I look back through the albums too.

A few weeks ago a few japanese friends introduced me to purikura, all of them are like myself 24. It was fun, but a bit awkward for me. ^^
Well, they told me that they did purikura a lot in their high school days but not so often anymore. It also seemed that they had one or two problems in handling the current generation of purikura machines. :)