Not All Vending Machines are Bad!

My friend and I lived in Tokyo for years, so we thought we'd seen everything surprising that Japan could offer. But last week, Japan got us again.

My friend was looking for a bottle of water, which was hard to find amid the cigarette and sweet drink machines. We spotted a brightly colored vending machine standing on it's own. And behold, it was a BANANA vending machine!!

Yes! I said a BANANA VENDING MACHINE! There were ONLY bananas in it!

Most were in singles wrapped in plastic and a few were in bunches also wrapped in plastic. And I NEEDED ONE!!

I wanted to be able to say I have eaten a banana from a vending machine. So I put my money in and put my finger on the button to choose a number, though I don't know why there are individual numbers for each item on the rack, as it is all bananas. The only difference is between bunches and singles, but nevermind that!!

Then, my friend and I thought in unison, "Wait. If it falls, won't it bruise the banana?" I pressed the button anyway and to my delight a small plastic lift descended to carry my banana.... almost to the bottom where it dropped it at the last second.

Sigh, almost a good job banana engineer, almost...

Despite the last minute let down(pun intended), the banana was minimally bruised and tasted fantastic! So remember in the middle of Tenjin's fast pace and quick beauty market, someone is still concerned about your health.

You should look for the banana vending machine, it's where you'd least expect it.

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