(Image from Nippon.com)

Although there are more than 5 million vending machines in Japan with a plethora of varieties, the type of vending machine that we might be familiar with is the general ones that sell drinks or snacks. You can consider the vending machines we typically see as something akin to commonly found pokemon in the games. Drinks vending machines are like Magikarp, they’re basically everywhere, in every region, every body of water, nook and cranny.

Ones that sell snacks like ice cream and instant ramen are rarer, but not exactly hard to find either, simply put, they’re like the Tentacools of vending machines, search for it and you’ll find one near you. However, what I’m about to introduce to you are the rare ones, the ones you might question why they even exist, really. Some of these might be one-of-a-kind ones in Japan ー and by extension, the world.

These are my top 5 strangest vending machines in Japan.

Number 5: Treasure Box Vending machine

Location: Akihabara (Near KFC)

Price: 1,000 JPY per box

Are you in a mood for some treasure hunting? or try out your luck on an auspicious day? This vending machine, for a price of a thousand yen per try, will spit out a box that can contain some expensive stuff like a Nintendo console or a video recorder, or weird stuff like a poke-ball shaped lamp.

It attracts a lot of attention and various videos about this mysterious vending machine have popped up all over the internet such as this one.

It is easy to use,  just insert 1000 JPY, pick a box, and clunk, you got yourself your treasure chest (box). However, don’t blame me if you got some cheap stuff like a small purse or a flashlight, I can’t help with that!

Number 4. Dashi Vending machine