As promised in yesterday's set of beverage vending machines, here's another unique selection.

Jump back to my finds from last year for an intro.

With the reduction of kiosks, JR has installed a number of new vending machine varieties.  This is for newspapers. There are four different papers being sold through ten slots.  According to JR's Kiosk site, breath freshners are the top selling candies and gums, so maybe we'll see another new machine soon.

Outside of a newspaper delivery depot is this smaller news vending machine.

I remember cigarette machines in the US 15 or 20 years ago, but they're still everywhere in Japan.  Maybe they'll suddenly dwindle like beer machines, but for now they proliferate with more than 630,000 country wide.  The first step comes next July, when all machines are required to confirm the buyer's age electronically.  Just west of the north exit of Koenji station, this machine goes all out, selling chewing tobacco and cigars.

  Until recently machines selling snacks were fairly uncommon, except at bowling alleys and movie theaters (instead of a refreshment counter, most theaters have a bevy of machines).  This is in a train station, filling in the kiosk niche.

On the truly rare side - probably one of a kind - here is a Disney themed snack machine.  It's at Maihama Station, next to Tokyo Disney Resort.

I'm sure there are more of these around, but I sure don't see many on the street.  Like the snack machines, ice cream is common at karaoke boxes, bowling alleys, ping pong spots, and other sporting/youth activity businesses.  This one is for Glico ice cream, and is right next to that Disney snack machine in Maihama.

Here's the other ice cream machine I know of, at Kichijoji Station.  It sells Morinaga, my favorite snack maker.  I've tried just about everything, and I think there are 3 or 4 snacks I didn't like.  Best chocolate, best cookies, best ice cream.

Now for some heathly eating.

Perhaps common in rural areas, this sight will surprise new visitors to Tokyo.  It's a fresh egg and produce vending box outside of a small farm on the border of Mitaka City and Chofu City, Tokyo.  Small farms are plentiful from here on west, throughout Musashino, Koganei, Fuchuu, and other cities in the area.  Most of the farms sell some of their produce - and maybe flowers, rabbits, chicks, and other sundry - right on the spot.  Often you'll see tables set up for a few hours a day.  Others have setups like this, which are refrigerated but look more like station lockers or surplus shoe rental maybe.  Every once in awhile you'll see a spot selling on the honor system, with a piggy bank nailed to a post for payment. 

This farm has a slew of chickens sheltered from the sun (and fed by?) kiwifruit vines.  They sell eggs in packs of 5, off on the left.  The daily vegetables hadn't been placed out yet when I took the photo, with only a few bags of potatoes up for grabs.