One fascinating facet of Japanese culture is the prevalence of vending machines. Virtually anywhere you go, you\u2019ll find them \u2014 many offering products you\u2019d never see in the vending machines of your home country. Kansai is no exception to this phenomenon.<\/p>\n
A few years ago, gacha toy<\/a> vending machines came to Terminal 2 in Kansai International Airport. The vending machines allow you to assemble your own capsule toy by following a video (there are instructions in multiple languages). It\u2019s a great way to make a souvenir before you head home.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re out and about and it starts raining without warning, there\u2019s nothing more useful than an umbrella vending machine. It\u2019s actually surprising that these don\u2019t exist everywhere. In Nishi Ward, Osaka, you can even pick up a free rental umbrella from one of several vending machines owned by DyDo<\/a> (a beverage company). Once you\u2019ve finished with the umbrella, you\u2019re asked to return it to the vending machine for others to use.<\/p>\n The challenge of an alcohol vending machine is, of course, the age restriction. To make sure only consumers who are legally allowed to purchase alcohol using the machines, special ID card readers are attached. In fact, this technology is so widespread that you\u2019ll find these vending machines all over Kansai.<\/p>\n A poultry farm in Osaka near Deto Station<\/a> sells some of its produce through an egg vending machine. Don\u2019t worry \u2014 the eggs won\u2019t crack. After you pay, a door opens, and you remove your carton.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a vending machine in Den Den Town, Osaka, that, at first glance, appears to be a cigarette vending machine. Look closer, and you\u2019ll see it has since been transformed into a printer ink cartridge vending machine for those printer ink emergencies.<\/p>\n A type of soup stock, dashi is an essential ingredient for many Japanese dishes. You can pick some up from the vending machine in Osaka near Korien Station if you run out.<\/p>\n Usually, the appeal of vending machines is that you see what\u2019s inside and can\u2019t resist. Not so with the surprise vending machines near Osaka Central Wholesale Market<\/a>. The set of vending machines are priced at 10 yen and 50 yen. Most give you drinks, but some also have treats like candy. Whereas most of the machines are complete mysteries (you have no idea what they contain), others have a transparent front, meaning you can see the options, but the product you receive will be random.<\/p>\n Often, these vending machines give you a much better deal than if you purchased the product at a store (or from a regular vending machine). The product often costs much less than what you\u2019d normally pay, although there\u2019s always the risk you\u2019ll receive something you don\u2019t like!<\/p>\n The pricing of the items is what it is; the vending machines located here are owned by a wholesaler who uses them to sell products with damaged packaging and items that are nearing their expiration date, so you know.<\/p>\n So while you are spending your time in Kansai, stay on the lookout for these vending machines. They\u2019re a great way to use up some of the change that\u2019s burning a hole in your pocket.<\/p>\n Kyle Hasegawa<\/a>, CC BY 2.0<\/a>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One fascinating facet of Japanese culture is the prevalence of vending machines. Virtually anywhere you go, yo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":4545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,59,85,86],"tags":[168,441],"class_list":["post-4544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-japan","category-life-in-japan","category-miscellaneous","category-osaka","tag-osaka-city","tag-osaka-metropolic"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4544"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50178,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4544\/revisions\/50178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Umbrellas<\/h2>\n
Alcoholic Drinks<\/h2>\n
Cartons of Eggs<\/h2>\n
Printer Ink<\/h2>\n
Dashi<\/h2>\n
Surprises<\/h2>\n
![Kyle Hasegawa<\/a>,](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Old_Japanese_vending_machines_(27208645177).jpg\"){kind=link}