Sanrio Plans Permanent VR Park for 5M Visitors; Ajipon UGC Up 32% — Weekly Oshikatsu News (Oct 24, 2025)

Here is our roundup of standout corporate oshikatsu (fan support activities) marketing and fan business news from the week of October 17 to October 23, 2025.

This Week’s Highlights

The defining theme of the week was campaign design that turns fans from spectators into active participants.

At Mizkan’s flagship seasoning brand Ajipon, the company reverse-imported ways of using the product that fans had posted on social media directly into a television commercial. User-generated content (UGC) posts in the first half of fiscal 2025 grew to 132% of the prior-year period (a 32% increase), reaching approximately 270,000 posts. Meanwhile, Sanrio revealed in its integrated report a policy to make its virtual reality theme park, V-Puroland, a permanent attraction in the fiscal year ending March 2026, aiming for 5 million annual visitors.

The Japan Racing Association (JRA) launched the “NIJISANJI Horse Racing King Championship” in partnership with the popular VTuber group NIJISANJI, featuring four VTubers competing in race prediction battles. In the advertising sector, the “No No Girls” project—a girl group audition produced by BMSG and artist Chanmina—won two categories at the ACC TOKYO CREATIVITY AWARDS.

DIAGRAMKey Fan Engagement and XR Numbers From This Week's News

132%: First-half FY2025 UGC posts for Mizkan's Ajipon vs. the prior-year period (+32%, approx. 270,000 posts)
5 million: Annual visitor target for Sanrio's planned permanent VR theme park, V-Puroland
150,000: Record participants at Sanrio Virtual Festival 2025, up from 120,000 unique users the previous year
2,263: Total entries at the 65th ACC TOKYO CREATIVITY AWARDS, where No No Girls won two categories

Source: The Oshi Lab's summary of announcements reported in this issue

Companies Turned Fan Posts and Participation Into Ads and Products

Ajipon x Fan Posts — Mizkan Reverse-Imports UGC Into Advertising

Mizkan announced the volume of user-generated content (UGC) posts for its seasoning brand Ajipon. For the first half of fiscal 2025 (March to August), posts reached 132% of the same period the previous year, totaling roughly 270,000 posts. A new television commercial titled “Behold Everyone’s Ways of Using Ajipon” (Miyo, Minna no Ajipon-zukai), which began airing on September 6, featured everyday fans selected through an open call. Cooking YouTuber Bashauma, who has more than 450,000 subscribers, as well as hololive VTubers Sakura Miko and Shirogane Noel, also appeared in the campaign. One scene showed Aisu of the idol group iLiFE! actually trying out an “ice cream x Ajipon” pairing that fans had posted on social media. Mizkan had set a goal of generating roughly double the volume of UGC compared to 2024 (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).

Creative Director Hideaki Tada stated that the team packed 15 seconds full of ways to use Ajipon that even the company’s own employees had never anticipated.

The Oshi Lab Note: The core breakthrough here is the decision to place recipes that fans spontaneously posted on social media right at the center of an official advertisement. The company recognized fan creativity as source material and showcased it in the most visible venue possible: a television commercial. Simply having the official brand validate “interesting ways to use the product” gives fan posting even greater momentum. This case illustrates that a campaign designed to collect UGC and a campaign designed to convert that UGC into advertising are two distinct strategic steps.

BMSG x Chanmina “No No Girls” — Designing the Audition Process Itself as Advertising

On October 17, the All Japan Radio & Television Commercial Confederation (ACC) announced the winners of the “2025 65th ACC TOKYO CREATIVITY AWARDS.” Out of 2,263 total entries, the girl group audition project “No No Girls” by BMSG and Chanmina won awards in two categories: the Branded Communication Division Category B (Social Influence) and the PR Division. Advertising agencies Hakuhodo and Spicebox handled the campaign, while Salvage served as the production company (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).

The award ceremony took place on November 13 at Otemachi Mitsui Hall in Tokyo.

The Oshi Lab Note: What is fresh about this project is that the audition program itself was designed as advertising. By turning an open-ended process whose outcome has not yet been decided into content, viewers are able to witness the birth of the performers they will support. This approach of showing the process of participation could readily be adapted to brand building in other industries as well.

Restaurant Chains Multiplied Everyday Touchpoints Through IP Collaborations

McDonald’s x Street Fighter — Capcom Explains Its Fighting Game IP Strategy

McDonald’s Japan launched a collaboration campaign with the competitive fighting game series Street Fighter. Starting October 21, the company aired a television commercial titled “Going to Meet Something Delicious” (Umai Yatsu ni Ai ni Iku), modeled after Street Fighter II. The commercial featured an animation in which Ryu, Chun-Li, and Ken unleash burgers like special moves and battle a McDonald’s-exclusive character named “Vega Smile” (known internationally as M. Bison). Takayuki Ueda, head of Capcom’s E-Character Licensing Business, explained the intellectual property (IP) strategy for the series as it marked its 38th anniversary. He stated that the theme is “blending into fans’ everyday lives and building familiarity” (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).

Through the collaboration with McDonald’s, the company aimed to expand into a new generation of fans where parents who grew up passionate about the series and their children can enjoy it together.

The Oshi Lab Note: The key point here is how 35 years of fan memories are being repurposed to create touchpoints with the next generation of children. The care taken to recreate classic special moves in pixel art comes across as genuine respect for longtime fans. That in turn gives those veteran fans a reason to bring their own children to the restaurant. The longer an IP has been around, the more effective it is to design campaigns where longtime fans themselves become the bridge to new audiences.

BANDAI SPIRITS unveiled the full lineup for “Ichiban Kuji Mos Burger 2,” scheduled for release on November 1, 2025. In this no-lose character lottery, the A Prize—“Teriyaki Burger Tissue Case”—was designed so that tissues are pulled right from between the lettuce and the patty. The B Prize was a large “Mos Chicken Cushion,” and the Last One Prize (awarded to the person who buys the final ticket in a set) was a “Mos Burger Clock” whose alarm plays sounds heard inside Mos Burger restaurants. Tickets were priced at 700 yen (tax included) per draw. The company announced that sales would roll out sequentially starting November 1 at Lawson, Daily Yamazaki, select Mos Burger locations, and other stores (Inside (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: What matters most here is that instead of turning menu items into purely decorative replicas, the lineup turns them into everyday household items like tissue cases and clocks. This mechanism keeps reminding buyers of the restaurant’s brand experience long after purchase, offering a useful model for how to keep an IP collaboration from ending as a one-off merchandise sale.

Retail Flagship Stores Announced Renovation Plans Tailored for Oshikatsu

Tower Records Shibuya — Transforming Into an Experiential Store Where Music and Oshikatsu Intersect

Tower Records Shibuya began sequentially renovating parts of its first floor and third through sixth floors starting November 4, culminating in a full reopening on February 28, 2026. Newly installed on the first floor were a “Welcome Gate” using mirrors and LED signage, along with an “Oshi Area” equipped with selfie-enabled photo spots. The third floor expanded its J-pop inventory to roughly 1.5 times its previous size, while the fourth floor enclosed its photo spots into private booths so visitors could take pictures alongside life-sized visuals. The fifth floor was remodeled for K-pop fans with an interior modeled after a bustling Korean shopping district (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).

This renovation marked the store’s first major update in roughly two years, following the expansion of its vinyl record floor in 2024.

The Oshi Lab Note: True to its theme—“Beyond trends, toward what you love”—the core shift here is transforming the sales floor from simple product shelving into a space for photography and hands-on experiences. By tailoring the interior atmosphere of each floor to specific genres such as K-pop, anime, and games, the store enables fan communities with very different reasons for visiting to spend time under a single roof.

Square Enix Official Capsule Toy Shop — Permanent Storefront Opens in Shibuya Sakura Stage

Square Enix opened a specialty capsule toy shop, “SQEX CAPSULE GARDEN,” on the third floor of Shibuya Sakura Stage on October 29. The lineup centered on capsule toys from the company’s own titles, including the Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and NieR series. The company announced a rollout of nine different products in total, including “Stacking Slime Accessory Cases” (Tsumitsumi Slime Komono-ire) and “Music Collection Keychains” (Inside (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: Being able to sustain an entire specialty capsule toy store solely with in-house IP demonstrates the strength of holding multiple long-running franchises. Because gacha (capsule toy) machines can be tried for a small amount of pocket change, even passersby who are not existing fans can easily interact with the IP. Choosing a commercial complex directly connected to a major train station rather than a standalone flagship store also reads as a deliberate decision to prioritize acquiring new touchpoints over serving only existing fans.

Apparel Brands Rebuilt Their Store Shelves Through IP Collaborations

Avail x Rilakkuma x Mister Donut, and Avail x Kamen Rider — Budget Apparel Chains Roll Out Multiple IPs Simultaneously

On October 18, the clothing chain Avail released “Rilakkuma x Mister Donut” collaboration goods at stores nationwide. The lineup included palm-sized plushies (tenori nuigurumi) holding donuts and FriXion ballpoint pens with character mascots, with a purchase limit of one item per product name per customer. On the very same day, the chain also launched merchandise featuring five Kamen Rider series (Kuuga, Den-O, W, 555, and Ryuki) at stores nationwide and via its online store, offering items such as muffler towels and matching loungewear sets (Anime! Anime! (in Japanese), Anime! Anime! (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: The key takeaway here is the simultaneous launch of two completely different styles of IP collaboration in the exact same week. There is very little overlap between the Rilakkuma demographic and the Kamen Rider demographic, meaning a single retail chain is moving to capture multiple distinct fan bases in parallel. It demonstrates that even a uniform-price-bracket apparel chain can boost store visit frequency by lining up multiple IPs at once rather than narrowing its focus to just one.

ZOZOTOWN x NIKKE, and Chiikawa x NEW ERA — Fashion E-Commerce and Streetwear Move Into High-Ticket Collaborations

ZOZO launched collaboration items with Goddess of Victory: NIKKE on its fashion platform ZOZOTOWN. A jacket incorporating costume elements from popular characters such as Viper and Red Hood was priced at 24,200 yen (tax included). A T-shirt and hoodie set was priced at 16,500 yen (tax included), with made-to-order sales running through November 10 (Inside (in Japanese)). Meanwhile, streetwear brand NEW ERA released 13 collaboration items with Chiikawa on October 24. The 9FIFTY cap was priced at 7,150 yen (tax included), following an advance pre-order window held in May 2025 (Inside (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: In a space where IP collaboration merchandise has traditionally clustered around a few thousand yen, it is striking to see a 24,000-yen-range jacket offered through a time-intensive made-to-order format. Because fans cannot buy it on the spot, buzz continues among the community throughout the waiting period leading up to delivery. Collaborating with established streetwear brands also elevates an IP from the context of “character merchandise” into true “fashion.”

DIAGRAMTwo Contrasting Retail & Apparel Approaches to IP Collaborations

High-Frequency Everyday Touchpoints

Mos Burger Ichiban Kuji Vol. 2: 700 yen per draw for household items like burger tissue cases and alarm clocks
SQEX CAPSULE GARDEN: Low-cost capsule toys in a station building to reach casual passersby
Avail: Simultaneous store rollouts of Rilakkuma x Mister Donut and five Kamen Rider series for distinct demographics

High-Ticket Fashion & Experiential Spaces

ZOZOTOWN x NIKKE: Made-to-order character jackets at 24,200 yen and T-shirt/hoodie sets at 16,500 yen
NEW ERA x Chiikawa: 13-item streetwear lineup with caps at 7,150 yen following advance pre-orders
Tower Records Shibuya: Multi-floor renovation adding private life-sized visual photo booths and genre-themed interiors

Source: The Oshi Lab's comparison of retail and apparel announcements in this issue

Capital Tie-Ups and Business Alliances Accelerated Across the VTuber Industry

SCARZ x Victor Entertainment — An Esports Team Partners With a Music Label

The esports team SCARZ, operated by XENOZ Inc., launched a joint VTuber project called “MeSTAGE” in partnership with Victor Entertainment. The project was built around the banner of “fusing music and esports.” VTubers DELUTAYA (who debuted in December 2020 with a focus on singing) and Kirameki Eve (who began streaming in October 2021) joined as members of the SCARZ Content Creator division (SCARZ (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: At first glance, pairing an esports team with a music label might look like an indirect route. However, both industries share a strong structural affinity: fans rally behind specific individuals. When two companies with different existing fan bases team up, they create opportunities for each side’s fans to cross over. This shows that the sweet spot for cross-industry alliances lies between companies whose underlying structures of fan support resemble one another.

viviON — Acquires VTuber Agency “Vebop Project” From REALITY Studios

On October 22, viviON Inc. announced that it had taken over operations of the VTuber agency “Vebop Project” from REALITY Studios Inc. The business transfer took effect on August 31, 2025. At the time of transfer, 11 talents belonged to the agency, including Akashi Niko and Sukiyabashi Renge. viviON anticipated synergies with its own in-house VTuber group, Aogiri High School (Aogiri Koukou) (viviON (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: A defining feature of this deal is that it took the form of transferring an entire agency as a business unit rather than transferring individual talents one by one. That allows the operating company behind the scenes to change without severing the existing relationship between the affiliated VTubers and their fans. When acquiring content built on deep fan bonds, handing over the entire group (“box”) creates far less friction than individual transfers—a strategic judgment clearly reflected here.

KAF x Avex — Virtual Singer Announces Major Debut and Aims for Overseas Expansion

Virtual singer KAF announced her upcoming major label debut under Avex Music Creative on October 18, marking her seventh anniversary of activity. A joint project with Avex, “KAF81 KAF x avex Overseas Mission,” was also launched. Her first-ever overseas solo concert, “Shukusei,” which had been scheduled for November 29 and 30 in Shanghai, China, was canceled. On March 1, 2026, she held her 5th ONE-MAN LIVE at Pia Arena MM in Kanagawa. Her YouTube channel had surpassed 1 million subscribers, and her total video views had topped 300 million (Mogura VR (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: Building on the positive response to her North American performance in May, we can see a clear progression in choosing a major label’s international network as the gateway for overseas expansion. The partnership uses a contract with an established label to supplement local concert promotion and rights-clearance know-how that a virtual singer’s team would struggle to maintain alone. Rather than trying to scale an IP or talent entirely in-house, choosing to partner with a company that already possesses the missing capabilities determines the speed of international growth.

Public Organizations Reached Younger Audiences Using Fandom Methods

JRA x NIJISANJI “Horse Racing King” Championship Draws VTuber Fans to the Racetrack

On October 16, the Japan Racing Association (JRA) kicked off the “NIJISANJI Horse Racing King Championship.” Participating in the contest were four members of the VTuber group NIJISANJI: Amamiya Kokoro, Sakaki Ness, Shikinagi Akira, and Nui Sociere. The JRA announced that the four participants would compete in race prediction battles across six Grade I (GI) races, including the Shuka Sho, Kikuka Sho, and Tenno Sho (Autumn), with the overall winner earning the right to appear on the racetrack’s giant “Turf Vision” screen. Alongside the contest, the “JRA FUN CLUB” ran a campaign where users who registered for JRA FUN CLUB were entered into a drawing for 500 winners to receive an acrylic keychain (PR TIMES (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: The crucial design choice here is structuring the campaign to show VTubers in the process of learning how to predict horse races. Because beginner VTubers are shown learning from the exact same perspective as their viewers, fans can pick up the rules right alongside them. The more specialized a field is, the easier it becomes for newcomers to step inside when the guide is positioned not as an “expert,” but as a “fellow learner.”

Future Design Shibuya x transcosmos — Teaching Halloween Manners on Roblox

On October 17, general incorporated association Future Design Shibuya and transcosmos released a Roblox experience titled “FIND THE HALLOWEEN SHIBUYA” as part of the “Shibuya Good Manner Project.” While searching for costumes and street culture inside the game, players could experience actions that contribute to keeping the city clean and improving public manners in a quest format. The organizers also announced sequential in-game collaborations with Tamagotchi, Beyblade, and the fictional artist group “JELEE” from the anime Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night (Yoru no Kurage wa Oyogenai) (Mogura VR (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: The clever twist here is taking public manner awareness—a theme that easily comes across as preachy—and transforming it into a game through collaborations with existing IPs. By combining a platform where younger audiences already spend their time with multiple beloved franchises, the exact same civic message travels much faster than if a municipality simply issued an appeal on its own.

Entertainment and Tech Companies Are Stepping Up Full-Scale Investments in XR

Sanrio — Making VR Theme Park “V-Puroland” Permanent With a Target of 5 Million Annual Visitors

In its integrated report, Sanrio revealed plans to make its VR theme park, “V-Puroland,” a permanent attraction during the fiscal year ending March 2026. Targeting 5 million annual visitors, the company aimed to build a facility operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year that handles not only Sanrio characters but also third-party IPs. The “Sanrio Virtual Festival” held in 2025 drew a record 150,000 participants, with unique users surpassing the previous year’s total of 120,000 (Mogura VR (in Japanese)).

Sanrio was also moving ahead with feature enhancements to its creator support service “Charaforio,” outlining a policy to support global expansion for independent creators and external IPs alike.

The Oshi Lab Note: Moving to make the park permanent only after observing participant growth at its limited-time Virtual Festival (Vfes) events is a remarkably sound approach. Rather than making a massive upfront investment right away, Sanrio validated demand through seasonal events before transitioning to a permanent facility. As a preliminary step before embarking on the high-difficulty challenge of hosting external IPs alongside its own characters, this sequence makes complete sense.

KDDI — Developing a Dedicated AR Device for “Monster Hunter Bridge” at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai

At XR Kaigi Hub in Osaka, telecommunications carrier KDDI shared the behind-the-scenes development story of a dedicated augmented reality (AR) device. The device was used for the “Monster Hunter Bridge” attraction inside the Osaka Healthcare Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai. The venue was a cylindrical theater measuring roughly 12 meters in diameter and 5 meters in height, with its walls and ceiling completely covered in LED displays. A total of 97 speakers were used to construct an 89.1-channel spatial audio system (Mogura VR (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: It is telling that the development of this AR device was spearheaded by a telecommunications carrier rather than a game company. Increasingly, the quality of an experience that conveys an IP’s appeal depends as much on a venue’s hardware engineering as on the software content itself. For telecommunications and electronics companies that possess video and audio infrastructure technology, the XR segment of IP collaborations represents a market where they can directly apply their core technical strengths.

This Week’s Takeaways

This was a week marked by companies intentionally building fans into their campaign architecture as active “participants.”

Whether in Ajipon’s UGC commercials, the JRA’s Horse Racing King Championship, or the ACC Award-winning “No No Girls” project, each initiative deliberately leaves room for fans to get involved. The structure is clear: the more actively people participate, the more naturally they come to feel personal ownership over the brand.

At the same time, capital tie-ups and business restructurings broke out simultaneously across the VTuber industry—from SCARZ x Victor Entertainment and viviON’s acquisition of Vebop Project to KAF’s announcement of her major debut with Avex. Including Sanrio’s permanent VR theme park and KDDI’s AR device development, full-scale investment is now flowing into the very “venues” that deliver content to fans. Initiatives that multiply touchpoints with fans and investments in the infrastructure that supports those touchpoints appear to be inseparably linked.

How much “room for participation” does your brand leave for its fans? Alongside our guides to Design Principles of Oshikatsu Marketing and Fundamentals of Fan Marketing, take a closer look at this week’s developments.

Weekly Oshikatsu News brings you a weekly roundup of the intersection between oshikatsu and business. You can browse past issues in the Oshikatsu x News category.