Apologies for taking so long to post more pictures. I am in the middle of a job search and it is taking a lot of my time and energy. Here we have a gumball machine featuring Pokemon clocks in the shape of Gameboy Advance SPs. These are the main prizes where the booby prize is a replica game cartidge with box. The cartridge is made out of a rubbery plastic, with authentic looking sticker just like a real game cartridge. The fake cartridge sucks. It's usually bent real funky but smells good.


Here are some cool super balls with your favorite World Cup soccer teams, namely Brazil. From the looks of the display picture, theses don't look to be official licensed balls. They still look really cool and probably smell good too. A nice rubbery, plastic smell. So intoxicating.

Here we have an excellent knock-off of the lightsaber. The amazing Air Sword. I love how the original Star Wars font is used to lure unsuspecting people to fork over their hard earned, or parents' hard earned, yen. I have a feeling this is another one of the machines where there are only a few of the super prizes in the machine and you are more likely to get the dog keychain.


And here is Hard Gay. For those not in the know, he is a professional wrestler commonly known as Razor Ramon. Hard Gay appears on television quite a bit on variety shows or in ads for Core 21, a pachinko chain. Many of his television appearances are available if you do a google search and are quite funny. Though after living in Japan for a year, he has grown a bit tiresome. So this gumball machine features a cell phone charm/strap that plays his famous catch phrase, "Fu!" Apparently it lights up too when you push the button. I tried to get one from a different gumball machine a couple weeks ago and ended up with something else. I was very disappointed, something worse than a dog keychain. I really need to post a picture of the dog keychain. It's sad.

I am at a loss here regarding what the first machine is all about. So I will guess about what exactly is offered here. Popular among some of the hobby shops or electronic shops are gift gumball machines. What you do is insert your money and get a capsule. Inside is a ticket which either reads winner or loser. Often the prizes are PlayStations, Gameboys or whatnot. The prize here happens to be a replica air gun. I really like the image of the gun contrasting with the brown background. If you can read Japanese feel free to drop me a line about what is written above the machine. Or make something up.

Now this machine may be a similar gift gumball machine. This time the prize being a model car. Sometimes the machines are filled with capsules containing booby prizes. So in the entire machine there is one cool prize as advertised and the rest are dog keychains or something equally disappointing.

I have no idea what is featured on this first gumball machine. I love the image of the screaming guy though. He looks pretty angry about the whole situation. I probably would be too if there was a creepy, glowing orb above my head. I did spend a 100 yen but did not get an ominous orb, rather, I got a dog keychain. I'll post a picture later.

The second machine has super balls in it. I love how the tray is made out of tape and plastic. There are even staples holding it together. Japanese ingenuity at its finest. This is one of the least expensive gumball machines I have seen here at 20 yen.

Unfortunately this style of gumball machine is slowly dying out. They are becoming more difficult to find around town. The newer plastic models of machines are everywhere, but lack the charm of the older machines.

Near my apartment there is a small hobby shop specializing in replica firearms and card games. The place is very dark inside and looks like no one ever shops there. The first time I went in I didn't even see anyone working there and was a bit spooked while looking around. In front of the shop are these wonderful gumball machines. I know they call them capsule machines here, but I prefer gumball. Call me old-fashioned. These machines are some of my favorites because of the classic gumball machine style. Take a look at where the capsule comes out, there is a small tray to catch it. The tray appears to be built into the cart holding the machines. In the first picture you can see that trays were made to catch the capsules. I have close-ups of each machine I will post later with descriptions of the toys.

I love vending machines. This love of automated machines has been with me for a long time. I remember when I was very young I saw an old black & white newsreel of shops in New York City where all types of food were available. Instant gratification at its finest. Probably not my first kiss with vending machines, but it made quite an impact on me. From then on I wanted to savor every moment with vending machines. But my favorite types of machines are gumball machines. Not necessarily candy, but those containing toys or other trinkets. I hope to use this space as a place to share my love of vending and gumball machines, particularly from Japan. So for my first post I want to show some of my favorites from Harajuku in Tokyo. Enjoy!