The first vending machine in Japan was made of wood and sold postage stamps and post cards.
In Japan, vending machines are known as jidō-hanbaiki (自動販売機) from jidō, or "automatic"; hanbai
The first vending machine in Japan was made of wood and sold postage stamps and post cards.
In Japan, vending machines are known as jidō-hanbaiki (自動販売機) from jidō, or "automatic"; hanbai, or "vending"; and ki, or "machine", jihanki (自販機) for short. Vending machines are also commonly used in casual restaurants to sell meal tickets, similar to automats: one purchases a meal ticket from a vending machine, then presents the ticket to a server, who then prepares and serves the meal. These are referred to as 食券機 (shokkenki, "food ticket machine").
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[What makes Japan's vending machines unique?]
Japan’s vending machines sell a wide variety of goods, from obvious items such as drinks (including beer and other alcoholic beverages!), cigarettes and food, through to toys, card games, written oracles, books and umbrellas.
Around half of the vending machines in Japan sell drinks, and this has led to the development of proprietary technology such as that which enables both “attakai” (hot) and “tsumetai” (cool) drinks to be housed inside the same vending machine.
Some vending machines now display their products on touch-panel display