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, ...
More and more convenience store chains and food makers are installing vending machines or unattended sales stands in companies to tap demand from white collar workers. Last month, Lawson Inc. launched Petit Lawson, a self-service outlet at which products from confectioneries to cup noodles are ...
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 ...
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 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 ...
Capsule toy vending machines installed at Narita International Airport near Tokyo have become magnets for foreign visitors. T-Arts Co. set up 325 vending machines to dispense capsule toys in the basement floor of the airport's Terminal 2 building, near escalators connecting Airport Terminal 2 Station ...
Vending machines that link people's smartphones to bonus points, photos and other perks are proliferating. The growth in beverage sales at convenience stores has left vending machines at a plateau. So beverage makers are trying to increase sales per machine by reaching out to customers' ...
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 ...
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 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. ...
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 ...
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, ...
