Star-Bulletin
Naleilehua Teves selected floral borders
for her sticker pictures. Also available: hearts,
party designs, foodstuffs, and much more.
Those old photo booths are passe. Why settle for a photo when these days you can get stickers? Put your smile
on a sticker"They're so cute," said Naleilehua Teves, a Roosevelt sophomore who stopped by the Neoprint booth at Shirokiya's Ala Moana store to get her thumbnail-size portraits, at $3 for 16 stickers.
"At school people put them on their pagers, they put all their friends on their pagers," said Teves, who plans to come back with friends.
"I've seen seven people on one," she said, before affixing one of her stickers to a Plexiglas board on the side of the machine, which is filling up fast with the mini images.
Elaine Yanazaki was there too, getting stickers made up at the request of her daughter Michele, who teaches English in Japan, where the machines are a hit.
"She told me, 'Mom, please go take some and send one to me,' but I don't know, I'm not photogenic."
Whether one is photogenic or not doesn't matter. The machine, which talks you through the procedure, allows you to pick from a variety of frames, then gives you time to compose the shot. If you don't like one pose, the machine gives you two more strikes before locking in with the warning, "This is your last chance!"
Shorties may have to tiptoe, and giants may have to stoop while standing for a shot. The machine seems tailor-made for a person who's 5-foot-5.
The booth, with only a short curtain for a backdrop, doesn't offer much privacy. You'll probably find yourself mobbed by tourists from Japan, waiting for their Hawaii souvenirs.
The Pearlridge Shirokiya will get its machine around March 20. Look for a similar machine at Aloha Tower Marketplace's Animation Magic also.
By Nadine Kam, Star-Bulletin
