Jonelle Patrick's Only In Japan
Every day, stuff you'd never see anywhere else.
The question isn’t really “Do I really need more gachapon capsule toys?” but “How did I ever communicate without them?” This series may be sold out by the time you’re … Continue Reading How Did I Survive Before There Were Standing Cat Toys?
Are ya feelin’ lucky? Because this vending machine dispenses fortunes, just like the ones you can buy at Japanese shrines! But that’s not all – it’s delivered by a little … Continue Reading The Shrine Maiden Vending Machine
How did you guess that the moment I caught a glimpse of this vending machine filled with cat shaming gachagacha, all my laundry coins would be history? There was only … Continue Reading The Cat Shaming Vending Machine
Sticking to the straight and narrow has never been cuter, thanks to these adorable kittycat gacha-gacha toys, and the vending machine that dispenses them on the Yanaka Ginza shopping street. … Continue Reading Move Over, Monkeys! See-no Evil, Hear-no-Evil, Speak-no-Evil Cats Are Here
Finally! A series of shiba inu gachagacha toys made by an artist who understands that these devilish dogs are not just unbearably adorable, they come packed with a level … Continue Reading The Shiba Inu Vending Machine
Move over Angry Ghost Cats and Drunken Pets! The Fox Wedding vending machine takes tiny collectible toy obsession to a whole new level. Take my coin purse, foxen! Take all … Continue Reading The Fox Wedding Vending Machine
When I first saw this gachapon machine filled with little plastic champagne towers, I thought WAT? Who needs a set of miniature, light-up, host club furniture? I mean, even though … Continue Reading The Host Club Vending Machine
So, today I came home and found THIS. I don’t know what kind of shenanigans YOUR gacha-gacha toys get up to when they’re alone in the house, but… This series may be … Continue Reading The Drunken Pet Vending Machine
It’s always hard to say goodbye to my favorite costumed peeing boy statue when I leave Tokyo, but now I don’t have to! Thanks to the awesome vending machine I discovered … Continue Reading The Peeing Statue Vending Machine
The vending machines are suddenly stuffed with pink drinks. Of course, there hasn’t been a genuine fuzzy-skinned stone fruit within a thousand kilometers of these so-called “peach” libations, but that doesn’t stop … Continue Reading It Must Be Fake Peach Flavor Season Again
Overcome with a burning need for yet more weird plastic toys (hey, don’t pretend this doesn’t happen to you!) I was poking around in my favorite Akihabara gachagacha emporium when I discovered … Continue Reading The Catzilla Vending Machine
I was wandering through Akihabara doing important book research SHUT UP, when I discovered the key to collecting all those damnably elusive kittehs in Neko Atsume: put out lots & lots & LOTS of … Continue Reading Gotta Catch Them ALL
I thought I’d reached the highest level of gacha-gacha nirvana when I discovered the Angry Cat Ghost vending machine last year, but yesterday walking through what I’d previously thought of as the ninth-circle-of-hell Shinagawa station, … Continue Reading The Angry Fox Ghost Vending Machine
…for your water bottle! (*_*) Yes, Japanese PET bottles have suddenly developed a taste for modesty after years of flaunting their unseemly summer nudity, and now there are gachagacha vending machines devoted to … Continue Reading Vending Machine Panties
Lately in Japan there’s been an explosion of vending machines selling little characters that perch on the side of your glass, so you never have to drink alone. But none of … Continue Reading Help, There’s A Hamster In My Drink!
Walking through Shinjuku station today, I discovered I had a burning need for angry cat ghosts. Fortunately, there was a bank of gacha-gacha vending machines smack in the middle of … Continue Reading The Angry Cat Ghost Vending Machine
Here, you don’t need to go out and commune with nature to know when autumn has arrived – all you have to do is check your corner vending machine to see how many of the cold … Continue Reading Fall Is When The Vending Machines Change Colors In Japan
In the cosmic battle between epic thirst and historic preservation, these vending machines make a heroic effort to deliver the goods in stealth mode. • Read a novel set in Tokyo…
These have got to be the most awesome gacha-gacha vending machine snags of all time! These little plastic figures depict Lady Liberty morphing into “Too-Free Goddess” and assuming unseemly poses! But forget trying to blackmail her with … Continue Reading The Statue Of Too Much Liberty
This vending machine offers you a choice between Marlboros and…Marlboros. It could be a glimpse of some horrible apocalyptic future in which the only beer left on Earth is Miller Light and the only mayo is Miracle Whip, or it could be … Continue Reading I Hope You Wanted Marlboros
It’s eleven o’clock – do you know where your kitteh is? Unsupervised cats-about-town head for Roppongi Station, where they can load up on CATNIP TEA from this handy partytime vending machine. They don’t … Continue Reading One-Stop Partytime Shopping…For Cats
Looking for a dinner companion who will light up when you’re near, even if you’re only eating Cup Noodles by the glow of your computer screen? Look no further, Forever Alones, now … Continue Reading Glow-In-The-Dark Skeleton Vending Machine
You know how it goes when a VIP comes to town: streets unexpectedly blocked, swarms of shifty-eyed men in dark suits with little curly wires in their ears, cavalcades of … Continue Reading Japanese Invent A New Way For VIP Visits To Annoy The Populace
Which is weirder – that someone designed earplugs that make it look like a little person is making herself at home in your ears (EWWWW!) or that you can buy them from a … Continue Reading Sorry, I Can’t Hear You, There’s A Person In My Ear.
I thought I’d found the oddest product you could buy from a vending machine when I spied the one selling rubber sea slugs, but I think I’m going to have … Continue Reading The Overly Realistic Caterpillar Vending Machine
Litte. Plastic. Sandwiches. With dogs in them. Wat. • Read a novel set in Tokyo…
What does one actually DO with a Poo Shooter, except annoy one’s little brother? Hmm. I guess some things aren’t Only In Japan… • Read a novel set in Tokyo
Why, iced coffee of course. What were YOU thinking? • Read a novel set in Tokyo
Forget all that tedious freezing your butt off in the woods with your shotgun – now you can get your very own stuffed animal head from a vending machine! Plus, … Continue Reading The Taxidermy Vending Machine
In Japan, you can get just about anything from a vending machine. Banana milk. Fake sea slugs. Miniature marble busts. And now you can get…the future! Yes, these handy vending … Continue Reading Fortune-O-Matic
“Mommy, mommy, I want a nudibranch! All the other kids have nudibranchs! Pleeeeeze can I have ¥200? Pleeeeeze?” “No. Last time you cried when you got the Bornella anguilla instead … Continue Reading The Fake Sea Slug Vending Machine
…the stars & stripes and a Harley! Not quite sure what message this brand is trying to send to Japanese consumers, but I’m pretty sure it’s not “Try the brew … Continue Reading Nothing Says “American Coffee” Like…
I thought I’d missed my chance when I failed to fork over ¥6000 for the miracle-inducing Sexy Santa outfit at Christmastime, so imagine how thrilled I was to discover that … Continue Reading I Got My Miracle Body From A Vending Machine!
Were the lion of the Cuban Revolución to make a little posthumous visit to Japan from Guerilla Heaven, he might be surprised (and possibly more than a little outraged) to … Continue Reading Coffin Nails For Lefties
What is with you people?! It says right here, RIGHT ON THE RECYCLING BIN, in the kind of phonetic letters ANY SIX-YEAR-OLD should be able to handle: P A P … Continue Reading Just Try To Toss Your Round Garbage Into My Square Garbage Bin NOW!
So, when you saw the name of this product, was the first thing that came to mind, “Mmm, coffee!”? Yeah, me neither. And I have to admit, I’ve never woken … Continue Reading Mr. Smoky
…BLACK BEAN TEA? Yes, this offering appeared in the vending machine near my school just as the word “summer” became synonymous with just-shoot-me-now-I-feel-like-going-back-home-and-taking-a-shower-before-I-even-make-it-to-the-train-station. Because vending machine owners are on the … Continue Reading When the Thermometer Hits 30º, It’s Time For a Tall Icy Glass Of…
I saw this gashapon vending machine in Akihabara the other night, and stopped dead in my tracks, trying to imagine what kind of kid would pester his mom for $4.00 … Continue Reading The Marble Bust Vending Machine
I get to Shibuya Station a little early to meet a friend, and suddenly I’m so hungry I think I’m going to die. Whipping inside the handy Tokyu store, I … Continue Reading The Scene Of The Crime
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, … Continue Reading The Lucky Vending Machine
Starving after completing the Scholia Arcana questline in Kingdoms of Amalur, you’re too weakened by your exertions to make it all the way to the 7-11 to pick up some … Continue Reading Chez Vending Machine
Yes, those cigarettes on the right are…chocolate flavored! And the “Special Flavor” ones on the left claim to taste like coconut milk. Not quite sure who the audience is for … Continue Reading Choco Cigs
Not quite sure what the marketing mavens on the Mild Seven account were thinking when they shot this model looking like the nice guy in the horror movie who’s suddenly … Continue Reading These Cigarettes Give You Demon Breath
Chocolate milk is soooo last millennium. Say hello to Banana Milk, Strawberry Milk, Apple-Orange-Peach-Pineapple Milk, and White Peach Milk, as well as the somewhat more challenging Black Sesame Milk, which looks as … Continue Reading Um…Banana Milk?
Tired of running back and forth to the nearest alcohol vending machine when it’s time for another round? If you live near this model in Ningyōchō, you’re in luck! It … Continue Reading Partytime Vending Machine
Finally it’s cold and rainy out, just the season for a swig of hot saké with a smoked, dried blowfish fin floating in it! Hirezake is such a wintertime favorite here in … Continue Reading There’s a Fish Fin in My Drink
For your wintertime beverage enjoyment, behold the Hot Orange. At first I figured the distributor was just getting rid of last summer’s overstock, but the packaging definitely says this vending … Continue Reading Steaming Hot Orange Soda
If you can’t be bothered to boil water and make your own Cup Noodles, this vending machine’s for you. On offer are curry udon (thick white noodles smothered in curry … Continue Reading Yakitori in a Can
I’ve seen AED stations all over Japan (and of course applaud the effort to get emergency equipment into the hands of bystanders so they can help someone having a heart … Continue Reading Your One-Stop Shop for Cold Drinks and Heart Defibrillation
It’s the season when warm drinks reappear in vending machines all over Japan, offering morning jolts of coffee, black tea, cocoa, green tea and…red bean soup? Yes, it’s time for … Continue Reading Coffee, Tea, or a Shot of Hot Red Beans?
