Japan Fan here with another topic that, like toliets, appears to be normal, but is NOT. Today I bring to you, Japanese vending machines.

The first vending machine in Japan was made out of wood and sold stamps and post cards. Japanese vending machines first hit it big when the 100 yen coin came into distribution in 1967.Japanese vending machines are famous for selling whacky and weird things. Run out of eggs? No prob. Run down to the nearest vending machine. Seriously, no joke. There are vending machines that sell: eggs, umbrellas, name card printers, bets for horse races, hot ramen, popcorn, rice, phone recharging stations, cigarettes, fishing bait, toliet paper, (to go with those toilet paper-less new fangled toilets) flowers, subway tickets, flight insurance, fried food, liquor, cameras, film, recycling machines, porn, underwear, bras, ice cream, beetles and dry ice. WHEW.

There have actually been lawsuits over Japanese vending machines. (Some sick guys set up vending machines that supposedly supplied underwear that were used by high school girls. The police tried to arrest them but couldn’t find any law against it so they finally made them shut down the vending machines by saying they had no proof the product was actually at one point used by high school girls, thus lying to their customers.)

Japan actually has so many vending machines it is estimated that there is one vending machine for every 23 people. Keep in mind Japan has over 100 million people. That’s a lot of vending machines.

Well, that’s Japanese vending machines 101! You can find more pictures and even weirder things sold in vending machines if you google “Japanese vending machines” Happy trails!