The Lucky Vending Machine
If you feed a thousand yen note into the maw of this vending machine, you don’t know if you’re going to get an awesome digital camera, a Swiss Army Knife, or a spanking new copy of that first person shooter that totally flopped last year and only works on a game system you don’t own.
The one thing you’re sure to get is a surprise. In a brilliant year-round twist on the New Year’s fukubukuro phenomenon, behold the vending machine that promises to deliver “popular brand name goods” for a fraction of their usual cost. If the stuff inside is anything like New Year’s Lucky Bags, this machine is mostly filled with items of reasonable value that didn’t exactly fly off the shelves, plus a few things people would actually be happy to own.
So take a chance! You might get something you love. And if you don’t, you can always sell it on eBay…
If you’d like to try your chances at the lucky vending machine the next time you’re in Tokyo, a map is on my website, The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had. If you go to the KFC in Akihabara, it’s right down the street.
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Jonelle Patrick is the author of the Only In Tokyo mystery series, now out for the first time in paperback
…or watch the book trailer (0:52)
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Jonelle Patrick View All
Writing mystery books set in Tokyo is mostly what I do, but I also blog about the odd stuff I see every day in Japan. I'm a graduate of Stanford University and the Sendagaya Japanese Institute in Tokyo, and a member of the International Thriller Writers, the Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters In Crime. When I'm not in Tokyo, I live in San Francisco. I also host a travel site called The Tokyo Guide I Wish I'd Had, so if you're headed to Japan and want to check out the places I take my friends when they're in town, take a look!
Jonelle Patrick's Only In Japan 
Hope to get that angry looking doll in the middle:)
That would be my pick too! With my luck, though, I’d get one of those weirdly vibrating razors.
My friend’s boyfriend got her a DSi from one of those box-stacking games at an arcade… But depending on how much he spent to do it, it may have been cheaper to just buy it normally.
Your friend got a DSi from her boyfriend. And he got it at an arcade. I hope the guy appreciates that she is a jewel among women.
I’d be lying if I said I never had a crush on her. 😀