Japan's Vending Machines & Automated Retail

About this book

Japan runs on machines that never sleep — and this is their complete story. Several million vending machines and a whole continent of unmanned shops sell everything in Japan: hot soup at the last train, eggs from a farm fridge, flowers at midnight, wagyu by the gram, shrine blessings from a drawer, and dinner from a room with no one in it. This guide walks the entire fleet in 200 entries — the drink machines, the food machines, the machines of tickets and daily life, the makers and keepers behind them, and the unmanned shops now remaking Japanese retail — each entry telling you what it is, how it works, who keeps it alive, and how to use it yourself.

Written and created in Japan by Japanese author Aki Wakamatsu. Published by Takikawa TOKOTOKO Kids LLC, a Japanese publisher in Hokkaido, Japan.