Ichiban Kuji Explained: How Japan’s Anime Figure Lottery Works
Ichiban Kuji is Japan’s guaranteed-prize figure lottery — a ticket-draw system behind many sought-after figures. Here’s how the draw works, what the Last One prize is, and how overseas fans get the figures.
If you’ve seen figures labeled “Ichiban Kuji,” you’ve encountered one of Japan’s most distinctive ways of distributing anime merchandise. Rather than a normal retail product, these items come from a paid prize-draw lottery — you buy a ticket, and the ticket you draw decides which figure you take home. “Kuji” (くじ) simply means “lottery” or “draw” in Japanese, so Ichiban Kuji literally reads as “number-one lottery.”
How the ticket lottery works
You pay a fixed price per ticket at a participating store (convenience stores, hobby shops and bookshops in Japan commonly host campaigns). Each ticket you draw is mapped to a prize, so the ‘lottery’ is which prize you get — never whether you get one:
- Every ticket wins. There are no blanks — this is the key difference from a raffle where most entries lose.
- Prizes are sorted into tiers labeled A, B, C, D and so on. Higher tiers (A/B) are the large collector figures; lower tiers are smaller goods like acrylic stands, towels, mugs or rubber straps.
- Each campaign is a limited run of tickets. Once the tickets are gone, the campaign is over — stock is not replenished.
- The final ticket in a set wins the “Last One” prize, a bonus figure (often a recolor or exclusive variant) on top of whatever tier that ticket already drew.
Is it a guaranteed figure or a gamble?
Both, in a sense — and this trips up a lot of overseas buyers. Drawing a ticket yourself in Japan is a gamble on which tier you land: you’re guaranteed a prize, but not a guaranteed A-tier figure. If you specifically want the A-tier figure or the Last One prize, buying that exact prize from a reseller after the campaign removes the randomness — you pay more, but you get the figure you actually want rather than a C-tier keychain.
Why collectors seek them
Because Ichiban Kuji figures are tied to a limited run of tickets, certain prizes become hard to find after a campaign ends, which is why they circulate widely on the secondhand market and among overseas collectors.
Buying from overseas
Ichiban Kuji is run inside Japan, so overseas fans usually obtain the prizes through proxy or forwarding services, or from resellers, rather than entering the draw directly. See our guide on buying from Japan for how that works.
A note on authenticity
As with any popular collectible, be mindful of counterfeits when buying secondhand. Genuine prizes carry the campaign’s official branding — see our guide on spotting bootlegs.
FAQ: Ichiban Kuji
What does Ichiban Kuji mean? “Ichiban” means “number one / first” and “kuji” means “lottery / draw,” so it translates roughly to “number-one lottery.” It’s a guaranteed-prize ticket draw run by Bandai Spirits.
How does the Ichiban Kuji prize system work? You buy a ticket for a fixed price and draw a prize tier (A, B, C…). Every ticket wins something, higher tiers are the big figures, and the last ticket in the set also gets a bonus “Last One” prize.
Is Ichiban Kuji a guaranteed figure or a lottery? It’s a guaranteed prize but a random tier — you will always win, but which figure or item you get is down to the draw. To guarantee a specific figure, buy that exact prize secondhand instead of drawing.
What is the Last One prize? An extra exclusive figure awarded to whoever draws the final ticket in a campaign, in addition to that ticket’s normal prize. Last One prizes are often the most collectible items in a set.
Can I enter Ichiban Kuji from overseas? Not directly — draws happen in Japanese stores. Overseas fans use a proxy/forwarding service or buy the specific prize they want from a reseller.
