SoraNews24 —Japan News—

You may think you’ve heard and seen it all when it comes to Japan’s vending machines. They dispense panties and hot food, and sometimes they’ll give you a little freebie. But what you still might not know is that these handy beverage-dispensing boxes have been getting quite chatty recently. It’s not uncommon now for your vending machine to attempt to engage you in some chit-chat as you purchase your wares. The one outside my apartment, for example, chats to me each morning about the weather, sometimes in the Kansai dialect, and sometimes even in English. “Vendy” also likes to dispense encouraging soundbites, such as “Do your best again today!” In fact, we’ve become pretty pally.

The talking vending machine technology is apparently customisable, and recent reports have been circulating of a company president who has installed several machines for his coworkers’ use which feature his smiling mugshot and a variety of encouraging dialogue he’s recorded to keep up employee morale!

Japan
(technology • vending machine • weird)

Create personalised stamps in a minute with new ink stamp vending machine!

Oona McGee
Jul 11, 2015

If you want to relive the childhood excitement of seeing your name on an ink stamp, now’s the time to start planning your trip to Japan! From 2016, you’ll be able to create a personalised stamp with more than just your name – think cute borders, shapes, colours and any type of photo you choose. Plus, you won’t have to send away and wait weeks to see your purchase because it will be dispensed in a minute or less from a high-tech vending machine!

Japan
(design • gifts • ink • stamp • vending machine)

Forget panty vending machines – BOGOF canned coffee is all the excitement we need!

Evie Nyan
Jan 14, 2015

If you’ve been to Japan or just watched Japanese movies and TV, you’re bound to have noticed that they have vending machines coming out the wazoo. Seriously, those things are everywhere! Head out to the deepest inaka (countryside) and you’re still bound to run across a random vending machine nestled in the greenery as though it’s been waiting its whole life just to slake your thirst. But with so many vending machines all over the place, drinks companies have had to get competitive, and reports from Twitter speak of a mythical machine that dispenses two for the price of one canned coffee! But just what sort of wizardry is this?

Japan
(canned coffee • coffee • drinks • hot drinks • vending machine)

The cold getting to you? Have a warm drink — from a vending machine!

Kay
Dec 18, 2014

Much has been said on the subject of the ubiquitous vending machines in Japan. Yes, vending machines seem to be lurking around every street corner here in Japan. And while hot beverages may not be among the most unusual products available from a vending machine, they can certainly offer you great comfort when you’re facing the bitter cold during the winter months.

And it turns out there’s quite a variety of hot drinks out there that you can buy from a machine, as a recent post on Japanese trend and information compilation site Naver Matome shows us. Let’s take a look at their selection of beverage options that may come in extremely handy when you’re caught outside in freezing weather.

Japan
(beverage • canned drinks • hot drinks • soup • vending machine)

Classy pipes, intestines, and a taste of the past all can be yours from Asakusa vending machines

Master Blaster
Nov 3, 2014

If you ever visit Tokyo, the district of Asakusa is a worthwhile spot to wander around in. It has a healthy mix of tradition, entertainment, food, and shopping that should please anyone looking for a small but all-encompassing Japanese experience.

But there’s one other unique feature that Asakusa has and it’s one that’s surprising even the most entrenched Tokyo residents. Apparently, Asakusa is home to an enormous selection of wildly unusual vending machines. And coming from a land positively peppered with automatic vendors, that’s saying a lot.

Internet, Japan
(Asakusa • Tokyo • vending machine)

Creative problem solving: Vending machine dispenses cans with 5 yen coins taped to them

Philip Kendall
Sep 29, 2014

One cool thing about living in Japan is that, whether you’re in a bustling city or the open countryside, you’re never too far from a vending machine. True, you won’t find any canned ramen in many machines outside of Akihabara, but so long as there’s power to run one, you’re pretty much always within a few hundred metres of a machine selling both chilled and hot drinks.

We’ve seen some unusual things turning up in Japan’s vending machines over the years, but cans of peach juice with money taped to them is definitely a new one.

Japan
(funny • money • vending machine • weird)

Automatic Skirt Lifting Vending Machine invented, humankind reaches new heights

Master Blaster
Jul 16, 2014

You might say that the last great life-changing technological achievement was the development of portable devices like smartphones and tablets. However, it’s been a few years now and nothing truly new has come down the pike aside from making other everyday things “smart” like glasses or a watch.

Just in time, we now have a new device that may change the very fabric of society. It’s a vending machine that lifts up the skirt of a Hatsune Miku plush toy. It may not sound important right now, but that’s how these game-changers work. In a few years’ time all of our lives will revolve around this invention, so let’s take a moment to see how it works.

Internet, Japan
(Hatsune Miku • skirt • tech • vending machine)

New York gets its first cupcake vending machine

Michelle Lynn Dinh
Mar 27, 2014

Japan has always had the market cornered on weird vending machines, so it’s going to take a lot to impress the people in a country where you can buy anything from fresh eggs to crepes from a metal box. But this new cupcake vending machine has been turning heads, not for how bizarre it is (by Japan’s standards), but how cute it is.

Sprinkles, the popular cupcake chain in the US, has just opened a “Cupcake ATM” at its New York store, the first of its kind in the area. It opened just 24 hours ago and the lines have been unbelievably long. Let’s take a closer look at the opening day.

USA
(ATM • cupcake • Sprinkles • vending machine)

Aged vending machine in Tokyo appears to sell stag beetles

Michelle Lynn Dinh
Mar 14, 2014

Japan is famous for “crazy” vending machines that are fabled to encase bizarre products and inappropriate wares. But for the most part, Japanese vending machines just spit out cans of cold or hot beverages, and sometimes soup. But this particular one found on a rarely traveled road in Tokyo could be a first as it seems to contain a giant beetle for sale.