Japanese Vending Machine Update: They've Got Bananas and Hot Soup Now!

If you take a look into the history of SlashGear, we've had our eyeballs stuck in vending machines for a while now. It's a very abridged history, but one trend sticks out like a box full of assorted juices: the Japanese have the best vending machines in the world. Without a doubt. Japanese culture today is such that if you're on your way walking from any place to any other place, chances are there's going to be a machine on the street to sell you a beer. And what's new for today? Hot soup and bananas!

As you can also see in this short presentation, you can purchase a burger, toasted sandwich. Well that's absurd, right? They can't keep all that stuff hot in the machine, it'd get all gross! They don't do that at all! As you can see in the video at about the 2 minute mark, there's timers on lots of the machines that provide you with heated food – they're stored cold and heated up while you wait. I've got a feeling that if this sort of thing was attempted in the US of A, our brains would explode the same way they do when there's more than a 2 minute wait in the line for a cheeseburger at McDonalds.

On the other hand, if there were a way for students to be able to get a hot cup of soup between classes without waiting in a line for 20 minutes, there's a thing that might catch on really quick. On the other hand again, there's problems in my area of the world (Minnesota, USA) with vandalism almost anywhere you set a Coke machine, and it's not like the vandals are aiming to get the soda pop out. Either way, I demand a vending machine that serves me a banana without bruises. Perfect world.

[Via Eater]