Why Japan Has 4 Million Vending Machines That Sell Everything from Fresh Eggs to Used Underwear

In most countries, vending machines are dusty corner-store relics dispensing warm Coke and stale Doritos. In Japan, they’re a national obsession, a tourist attraction, and—occasionally—a moral grey zone.

There are roughly 4 million vending machines scattered across Japan, or one for every 30 people. They line empty rural roads. They glow in alleyways at 3am. They appear, mysteriously, in fields of rice. And what they sell can range from genuinely useful (hot coffee) to genuinely confusing (deep-fried scorpions).

Here’s everything you need to know about Japan’s most beloved and slightly unhinged piece of infrastructure—the jihanki (自販機).

1. The Basics: Why So Many?

Japan’s vending machine density is the highest in the world. The reasons are deeply Japanese:

A solitary lit vending machine glowing on a dark Tokyo street at night A single vending machine burns through the night on an otherwise empty street. Photo by Darren Halstead on Unsplash.

2. What’s Actually Inside? A Tour

The Standard: Hot & Cold Drinks

You’ve seen these. Coffee in a steel can (yes, hot), green tea, energy drinks, miso soup, and the legendary Pocari Sweat. The wild part: same machine, same row, dispenses both piping hot and ice cold drinks. The red label means hot. The blue label means cold. Don’t mix them up unless you enjoy chaos.

Hot Ramen — In a Can

Yes, canned ramen with actual noodles. The machine heats it for you. The broth is real. The texture is… an experience.

Fresh Eggs

In rural Japan, farmers sell their morning’s eggs in roadside vending machines for ¥200 a dozen. The eggs are usually warmer than the surrounding air. The honor system, mechanized.

Live Crabs and Lobsters

A machine in Tokyo’s Akihabara district dispenses live crabs in plastic boxes. The crabs are alive. They are also angry. You win one with a claw-machine-style grabber. Customers reportedly cook and eat them.

Fresh Strawberries, Bananas, and Apples

Tokyo’s wealthier suburbs host vending machines selling single perfect strawberries for ¥500 each (about $3). For reference: an entire pint of strawberries at an American supermarket costs less.

Umbrellas

Japan gets sudden, brutal rain. Train stations have umbrella vending machines that dispense cheap plastic umbrellas for ¥500. Genius.

Neckties, Shirts, and Underwear (New)

Salarymen who spilled curry on their shirt before an important meeting can buy a replacement from a station vending machine. Same goes for emergency neckties.

Used Underwear (Yes, Really)

Here we enter the moral grey zone. In the 1990s and early 2000s, some Tokyo alleyways had vending machines selling used schoolgirl underwear (burusera, ブルセラ). This caused international outrage. Japanese authorities cracked down hard. The machines are now essentially extinct, but the legend lives on, often exaggerated.

The truth in 2026: You will not stumble on a used-underwear vending machine in modern Tokyo. They were specific, regional, and quickly outlawed. The “Japan sells used panties from machines” meme is 10% history, 90% click-bait.

Fortunes (Omikuji)

At temples, vending machines dispense paper fortunes for ¥100. The machine bows when it delivers your fortune. The fortune is sometimes “bad luck.” That is also part of the experience.

Bug Snacks (Edible Insects)

Several machines across Japan sell snack packs of fried grasshoppers, silkworm pupae, and giant water bugs. Marketed as “high-protein,” consumed for the dare.

Whole Roast Chickens

A handful of machines—mostly in convenience-store parking lots—keep a rotisserie spinning inside a glass case and dispense whole roast chickens for ¥1,500.

Flowers

Bouquets, vacuum-sealed for freshness, dispensed in minutes for date-night emergencies. Around ¥2,000.

A Vending Machine That Sells Vending Machines

A meta-machine in Osaka sells miniature toy vending machines. Recursive capitalism.

3. The Strange Geography: Where to Find the Weirdest Ones

Japan’s most unusual vending machines tend to appear in very specific places:

4. Why This Cultural Obsession?

There’s a deeper answer beyond practicality.

In a society that values omotenashi (おもてなし)—the deep, almost spiritual hospitality of anticipating others’ needs—the vending machine is the ultimate silent host. It is there at 4am. It does not judge you for buying soda noodles. It bows when it delivers your fortune. It is, in a quiet way, the most polite robot in the world.

5. How to Use One (For Tourists)

  1. Coins and bills: Most accept ¥10, ¥50, ¥100, ¥500 coins and ¥1,000 notes. New machines accept IC cards (Suica, Pasmo) and credit cards.
  2. Color codes: Red = hot. Blue = cold. Green often = tea.
  3. No change? Press the coin return button (返却) to get your money back.
  4. Don’t shake them. The Japanese will judge you. So will the machine.

TL;DR

Japan has more vending machines per capita than any country on Earth, and they sell everything from hot ramen to live crabs to single perfect strawberries. They exist because Japan is safe, dense, automated, and politely obsessed with convenience.

Want to experience it yourself? Tokyo’s vending machine culture is one of the most photographed, Instagrammed, and TikTokked aspects of Japan tourism.

WeirdJapan.news covers the strange, the small, and the slightly-too-much in Japanese culture. Follow us for daily oddities most travel guides skip.

Related articles: