Drop a coin, grab a snack: Kiosk-in-a-box spreads in Japan

Wow, Japanese have finally invented the vending machine. What will they think of next?

On the face of it, relying on trust may seem a risk, but Japanese are well known for their honesty.

Contrary to the "we Japanese" crowd, this has been tested extensively (pay by honesty) and it works well OUTSIDE of Japan. And some of the studies I've read have been conducted DECADES ago.

I think the first outfit to try it was a bagel shop that delivered boxes of bagels to local offices, and then just left them with a pay tin, and pretty much everybody paid for what they took.

Nothing new here, just Japan behind the times again, trying to pretend they invented something new.

I don't know if they are that far behind. I recall the unmanned automated combini, was used by some clients in their cafeteria.

And that was over 10yrs ago

workers simply deposit 100 yen in a frog-shaped piggy bank,

Well then, I guess Japan's contribution is adding a cartoon character into the mix.

Corporate culture and junk food: two major missteps in human evolution unite and birth more downfall.

"Could the honor-system work outside Japan, a country where lost wallets regularly end up back with their owners?"

Things like this have been in place elsewhere for quite some time, and even in Japan this is not new. And yes, things get returned in other nations as well, and there are plenty of honest people -- the system here is just smoother, believe it or not, when it comes to turning things in to police and them registering and cross-checking for reports of things lost (sometimes more paperwork, but still). Anyway, the office I work in has a similar thing, but with medicine. It's a large drawer-like box that has all sorts of medicines and first aid stuff. You don't drop money in when you take something (I think you buy the box as a set at first), but the company that sells the boxes comes by once in a while to refill things that are missing and you are billed for those products only.

What they need are not more refrigerated or frozen goods boxes filled with sports/caffeine drinks and ice cream, but refrigerated boxes or vending machines with yoghurt, fruit, and healthier products if people who don't take a lunch are going to subsist on what's available in said machines or boxes.

Has one of these in our previous work, when some snacks turned up unpaid for when they did the count the Japanese staff blamed the 3-4 foreigners in the company. The foreigners voted to remove the stupid thing.

The problem I have with this thing is that they only put about 2 packs of anything decent in there!

Is this Furuyabu individual implying that Japan is the only "honest" nation with his snide remark "collection may be an issue" (overseas) at the end? You don't have a mortgage on honesty, Furuyabu. I've worked with honesty systems overseas - staff tea and coffee, fruit-selling, etc - and in general they went very well.

Keep your sugar-laden Glico junk-food for those who want an expanding waistline, sir!

The ever changing contents are this system's weakness, not a strength. They would probably get a lot more of my money if they kept replenishing it with the stuff I actually bought and liked instead of maintaining an 'element of surprise'.