Japan is the country with the most vending machine and you can virtually find them anywhere selling almost anything.

Here’s a look at the very futuristic next generation vending machine that makes use of a vertical, 65-inch, full HD transparent display and an intel processor that is able to allows anonymous face recognition, knowing whether the customers are male or female, or old or young.

Source: Akihabara News

Suica (スイカ) is a rechargeable contactless smart card used as a fare card on train lines in Japan. The card is also increasingly being accepted as a form of electronic money for purchases at stores and kiosks, especially within train stations.

Suica stands for “Super Urban Intelligent Card”, and the pronunciation is also a pun on the Japanese word for watermelon, “suika”. In the logo, the “ic” is highlighted, as the initials stand for integrated circuit, the technology inside the smart card, in common Japanese usage. An additional meaning comes from the expression “sui sui”, meaning “smooth” and an abbreviation for “card”, “ka”, intended to highlight the smooth simplicity of using the card compared with traditional train tickets.

We all know that vending machines can be found in every street corner in Japan and the most recent idea that served the public good was the Free-of-Charge Disaster Relief Vending Machine.

Coca-Cola and Japanese Red Cross are collaborating to install donation boxes in about 100 vending machines late last month. Rather than collect the change from a canned coffee or sweet soda, customers can elect to donate it to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami relief fund set up by the Japanese Red Cross. Donations can be made in ¥10 or ¥100 increments. After making a donation, a voice pipes up thanking customers for their good deed of the day.

The collection-box-fortified machines are scattered around three prefectures – Chiba, Ibaraki and Tochigi, and the collection boxes will be available until Sept. 30.

Source: WSJ Japan Realtime

I think this is a fabulous idea except probably when you need spare change to buy your next canned drink, then you probably might feel a hint of regret donating those loose change away.

Source: Nicolas Hugentobler flickr

Actually I have seen similar vending machines in Singapore but the ones that they sell are really flimsy, probably enough to help you get to the next destination. Then again, I wouldn’t need to buy one because I always carry an umbrella wherever I go.

I think the instant cup noodles bought from the convenience stores would probably taste better than that clumpy bowl of ramen. Nonetheless, its still an interesting concept and demonstrates why Japan is still the country of vending machines.

The vending machines uses its embedded camera to gather business intelligence – it recognises your gender and age and then makes recommendations according to the situation (e.g. a young teenager might be interested in Pocari Sweat on a hot sunny afternoon, or a 65 year old man might want to drink some warm coffee on a rainy day). Yes its intelligence is rather scary!

Anyway 500 more of these machines will be installed in Tokyo within the next 2 years so you probably get to see them on your next trip to Japan.

Source: Engadget

I wonder if the same concept can be applied to other vending machines as well and not just those selling drinks.

You just need to pop in 130 yen and the machine will dispense the banana of your choice. Did I mentioned that banana is one of my favorite fruits.

This photo was taken midorisyu. I just love how the vending machine are stacked along the sloping road. Instead of being an eyesore, I feel that it adds color to the neighborhood.

Here’s a little more information on the vending machine in Japan:

In Japan, vending machines are known as 自動販売機 (jidō-hanbaiki) from jidō, or “automatic”; hanbai, or “vending”; and ki, or “machine”, 自販機 (jihanki) for short.

Japan has the highest number of vending machines per capita, with about one machine for every twenty-three people. Japan’s high population density, relatively high cost of labor, limited space, preference for shopping on foot or by bicycle, and low rates of vandalism and petty crime, provide a fertile environment for vending machines. While the majority of machines in Japan are stocked with drinks, snacks, and cigarettes, one occasionally finds vending machines selling items such as bottles of liquor, cans of beer, fried food, underwear, iPods, porn magazines, sexual lubricants, live lobsters, fresh meat, eggs and potted plants. The practice of “vendo,” or lingering around the vending machine to drink in groups, is not unheard of during warmer months.

In 1999, the estimated 5.6 million coin- and card-operated Japanese vending machines generated $53.28 billion in sales. Vending machine goods and services can cost as little as 50 and as much as 3,000 yen.

With the introduction to services such as “Osaifu-Keitai”, cell phones can now be used to pay for the items bought from these vending machines more easily.

In 2008, a smart card called taspo was implemented in the majority of tobacco vending machines across the country to restrict sales of cigarettes from them. From such machines cigarette purchases may only be made by those in possession of the card, which is issued to adult applicants (which in the case of Japan, is 20 years of age). The card is held up to a sensor after money is inserted into the machine.

The vending machine sells hamburgers for 100 yen each, but it seems like the machine only allows you to buy one burger. This is becasue the machine is operated manually and can only hold one burger everything is operated manually by the storekeeper. Do wait till the middle of the video to see the “Royal Burger” vending machine. LOLOL

Source: Japan Probe

Somehow I believe this man isn’t out to sell burgers, he is just very bored and trying ways to entertain himself. LOL

Source: SenakaBlog via Kotaku

Of course the prices for those R4 are total ripoff for 8,000 yen. You can get them for a quarter of the price if you buy them online. Not that I’m familiar because I don’t support piracy!!