Japanese vending machines

Here's an email being forwarded around the Internet. I think the pictures attached have drawn attention of many because of the creativity and the fascinating display. If you have never seen these vending machines before, I pick some of them to show you here.

Selling umbrellas.

Selling rice.

Reverse vending. In other words, a recycling machine. Put your can in and get money back.

Selling ramen (noodle). Its display looks delicious, doesn't it?

Dry ice dispenser. Many supermarkets have this machine to help keep your frozen goods cold and fresh until you get home.

Kids' toys. We call it扭蛋机, can also be found in Malaysia, Singapore and especially in Taiwan.

Ever bought Haagen-Dazs from a vending machine?

Serving hot snack. I'm very interested in this one. Imagine having this in your place, you just walk out of your door and you can have fries, hotdogs and so on.

Selling flowers. Yet another good service, you can buy your loved ones some flowers anytime.

Providing fishing line, fish hooks and even bait.

Selling film and disposable cameras.

The coke machines look much nicer and innovative... and selling more variety?

Selling eggs.

...and this one, printing business cards. Sound cool?

In the 70's, there were already a lot of vending machines selling softdrinks and cigarettes in the Japanese streets. These machines can really make life easier. My friends gave me the same response after seeing these pictures, "Wow, how nice if we can have these in our place!" Well, I would be happy to see all of them here in Malaysia but then I'm starting to worry about "the safety" of the machines. Can our people treasure them like others do if they are put in the public? I believe our society is somewhat in need of the citizenship cultivation because some people don't even know the proper way to use the public phones.