Want a piping hot pizza any time you feel like one? So did truck driver Yoshiharu Taniguchi, who craved freshly made Italian pies when he worked long nights. His solution: hunt for a pizza vending machine. He tracked down an Italian company that manufactured them, ...
Osaka's ¥1 sales energize shoppers but not good for BOJ's inflation quest
Osaka is famed for it's cheap prices, with ¥1 supermarket sales, ¥10 drinks and discount train tickets sold right next to the station. That attracts thrifty consumers and tourists, but may be undercutting the central bank's efforts to generate sustained price rises. "If it's not ...
Uniqlo installs clothing vending machines in U.S. airports, malls
Japanese casual clothing chain operator Uniqlo Co. has been placing vending machines in airports and malls in U.S. cities, offering two of its most popular items. The company has installed five of the so-called "Uniqlo to Go" machines since Aug. 2, including one at California's ...
Gachapon: Tracing the evolution of Japan's colorful toy capsules
Where else but Japan could you buy a miniature version of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" figure crouching over a squat toilet, horror-struck? It's one of thousands of ingeniously designed trinkets you can buy for a pittance from toy machines across the nation. They're subversive, ...
In a change from chocolates and fizzy drinks, the French are starting to offer fresh oysters from vending machines in the hope of selling more of the delicacy outside business hours. One pioneer is Tony Berthelot, an oyster farmer whose automatic dispenser of live oysters ...
'Roadside Lights': Capturing Japan through its lonely vending machines
Photographer Eiji Ohashi gained a deeper appreciation of Japan's ubiquitous vending machines one harsh night in his Hokkaido hometown of Wakkanai, Japan's northernmost city. Roadside Lights, by Eiji Ohashi. 44 pages ZEN FOTO GALLERY, Photography. Caught in a fierce snowstorm, he was able to navigate his way home ...
Vending machines expand product offerings, from diapers to charitable contributions
Vending machine operators have recently been seeking new ways to expand their sales as they face competition from convenience stores that offer an increasing variety of products. Japan has a staggeringly high density of vending machines — about 4.9 million units nationwide. About half of ...
Meaty vending machine lets Parisians buy sausages, steaks 24/7
With their beloved baguette already available 24 hours a day, it seems only logical that Parisians can now get the Bayonne ham and Basque pate that goes so well with the bread from the first meat vending machine installed in the French capital. In a ...
Abe's deflation fight has automated foes on nearly every Tokyo street corner
They stand resolutely on street corners around Japan, proclaiming that deflation has not been vanquished, much as the Abe administration and the central bank have tried. They are the country's 5 million vending machines, and as anyone who has visited can attest, they are seemingly ...
Chubu airport targets foreign visitors with first SIM card vending machine
Chubu Centrair International Airport will get its first prepaid SIM card vending machine Tuesday, NTT Communications Corp. said. International visitors to the airport will find it easier to purchasing SIM cards, the Tokyo-based telecommunication firm said. The machine will sell two types of prepaid SIM cards. ...
Dydo rolls out vending machines that deliver messages in the boss' voice
Vending machines that greet people in the voice of the company boss are being rolled out at a number of businesses under a new initiative by beverage maker Dydo Drinco Inc. The company, a major producer of canned coffee, said Wednesday the machines would be ...
The A-Z on Japan's new SIM card vending machines
On Friday, two SIM card vending machines were launched at Narita International Airport aimed at making travel easier for Japan's increasing number of inbound tourists. After featuring a story on the new machines in The Japan Times, feedback indicated that readers wanted to know more. So, ...
