There's almost nothing you can't buy from a Japanese vending machine. You might think that's an exaggeration, but here's some of the things it's possible to obtain from a mechanical shop in Japan: umbrellas, eggs, noodles, Hello Kitty popcorn (hot), drinks (including beer), cigarettes, toys, flowers, fried food, pornography, used pants, potted plants and of course iPods and other gadgets.
If that doesn't impress you, consider this: there's one vending machine for every 20 people in Japan and the industry was worth $56bn in the year 2000.
Selling cigarettes from a machine means there's no one to squint at the fake IDs of kids trying to score a pack of Marlboro Lights, so cunning vending machine designers created a system that would examine the face of the person purchasing and decide if they looked old enough. An idea of some genius, thwarted only by the ease with which a photo of an older person could be shoved in front of the camera.
Photo credit: LHOON (cc-by-sa-2.0)
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