You’re Not Likely to Find Underwear Vending Machines

Yes, this is a disturbing subject, but it has been associated with Japan for years—at least online. Since images of the vending machines first starting appearing online, one of those crude jokes has been the notion that you can travel to Japan and find a vending machine that sells underwear.

Like any civilization, Japanese culture has many peculiarities. Japan also creates hentai, which is anime for adults, in addition to the popular anime and manga. In other words, it is pornographic. The used pant vending machine appears to have evolved from this hentai, which frequently includes frightening tentacles and feminine figures dressed in those schoolgirl sailor outfits. It was exactly what it said it was—a machine that sold secondhand underwear.

Many adult-oriented things are sold in red light districts in Japan, therefore people have traveled there in search of these devices. There are several in shops with an adult theme, but the wording on them is difficult for people who don't know Japanese as their first language. Although it is not worn, these machines will sell underwear. They are merely intended to appear as though they are in order to prey on the types of consumers who would normally purchase such items.

According to rumors, these items were for sale a few years ago, but the government has significantly tightened its control over them. Therefore, did Tokyo once have one or two machines? Probably. However, don't look for them nowadays.