For a mere １５０円, you can have any Japanese soda, milk tea, iced coffee, or other novelty beverage your heart desires.

Whisky and M&Ms? I'll take two!

But that’s not all; the Japanese have vending machines for practically everything. Want a fresh banana straight from a vending machine? You got it!

In short: they bring clunky American vending machines to shame.

Why America, why?

Japan has upped the ante once again and begun to stock its vending machines with the greatest product of them all: the internet.

The Problem With WiFi In Japan

As Koichi wrote about a few years ago, finding wireless internet in Japan can be a huge pain. While Japan has some of the speediest internet in the world, it can be tough to find a public place to get your internet fix.

Fortunately, beer titan and vending machine operator Asahi has decided to combine Japan’s fast internet and awesome vending machines into a vending machine that dispenses honest-to-God free wireless internet.

The wireless signal reaches out about 50 meters (or about 150 feet) and auto-kicks people after half an hour, so no four-hour-long WoW raids on vending machine wifi while slurping down can after can of Boss Coffee.

Once you connect to the WiFi, you’ll be welcomed by a screen that shows you everything that’s available in the vending machine, along with information about local businesses and tourism. Definitely a lot more friendly than stealing your neighbor’s WiFi.

Line ‘Em Up!

Asahi hopes that customers will be drawn in by both the free internet and tasty beverages like moths to a flame.

And it helps that the Japanese are notorious for loving to wait in line. The longer and more useless the line, the better. A brand new doughnut shop? Better wait 4 hours in line for a taste.

Perhaps the hope is that as people start hovering around Asahi vending machines to siphon some of that sweet, sweet WiFi, more people will be attracted to the machine. If there are people loitering around a vending machine, then surely there must be a good reason, right?

Will Asahi’s new vending machines create popular hangouts around soft drink dispensers? Well, probably not, but it’s still a pretty cool idea, and will be definitely welcome in WiFi-starved Japan.

P.S. Are you reading this from a vending machine? Follow us on Twitter!
P.P.S. Reading this post on another appliance? Check us out on Facebook or Google+.

Ever since I found out Japan got its first banana vending machine, I’ve been chomping at the bit banana for a conveniently placed second banana vending machine, preferably someplace I didn’t have to fly an airplane to get to.

Actually, I don’t care that much, but I did think it was pretty sweet that Japan has banana vending machines (two, now) allowing anyone to get a banana whenever the please… as long as they live near one of the two banana vending machines in existence.

Banana Vending Machine, Fukuoka

A little under a year ago, Shibuya (in Tokyo) got Japan’s first (maybe the World’s first?) banana vending machine. Apparently it was a success (selling to around 60-80 people per day), so they decided to put another banana vending machine up really far away (in Fukuoka). If you want to visit this vending machine, you can find it at 西鉄福岡天神駅 (Nishitetsu Fukuoka Tenjin Station), specifically on the North side (so if you live in Fukuoka, and love bananas, and don’t like grocery stores, you should check it out).

Click on this image to go to here

If you’re looking to get your hands on one of these bad boys, just know that it’ll cost you… not very much. To buy a single banana, it’s 130 yen (convert). To buy an entire bunch of bananas, that’ll cost you 390 yen (convert). It’s slightly more expensive than grocery prices, but think about the convenience of getting a banana when you need one and you happen to be at this particular station.

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Someone made a video…

In order to keep things fresh, the bananas are kept at a comfortable 55 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius), and a banana man comes three times a week to restock / pull anything too old to sell.

When you’ve finished eating your banana, there’s even special bins for you to throw them into (there’s special bins for everything garbage related in Japan, isn’t there?).

I’m sure this has cut down on very comedic, sound-effect laden instances of people slipping very painfully on banana peels while chasing a cartoon character.

Anyways, enjoy your bananas while you can, or you might get a visit from the very terrifying Dole Man.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czL5yCCgiNQ']

I’m going to eat a banana now.

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