Japan Gets Gold and Silver Vending Machines

Wow! Finally Japan is getting our gold & silver vending machines!


Japan Times reports:

The machine offered 1 gram of gold for ¥6,800, or $82.30, according to the price Monday. Gold traded at $1,362.45 per troy ounce just before 11 a.m. in Tokyo, or about $44 a gram. The vending machine sells the precious metal in the form of coins and ingots, with weights ranging from 1 gram to a little more than 7 grams.

Japan has a vending machine for every 32 people, according to Bloomberg calculations. The nation posted ¥5.1 trillion in vending machine sales in 2009, about 45 percent more than the $42.9 billion revenue in the U.S., according to the Japan Vending Machine Manufacturers Association.

Cool! Vending machines that sell precious metals! Wow! I want to buy one!.... How much are they? The article continues:

The most expensive item available in Rokugawa's machine was a 7.2-gram gold coin issued by the Canadian central bank, retailing for about $410. Rokugawa declined to say how much gold will be kept in the machine at any one time.

What!? $410 USD dollars for a 7.2 gram coin!? $410 dollars is ¥33,728... I can go to just about any gold shop in Okachimachi and buy a 10 gram gold coin for ¥13,992 ($170 USD!). No one is going to be stupid enough to pay those prices!

Gold Vending Machine. 

(Girl not included).

This vending machine has a 290% mark up over spot price? Are you kidding me? Rip off!!!!

No, thanks. I think I'll just ride the train 4 stops (ten minutes) for ¥160 ($1.94) from Tokyo Station to Okachimachi. I'll save money, get some exercise and be able to buy almost three times as much gold for the same price...


I enjoyed the headline of this article. It says:

Investors need 'something real they can touch'

I think any "investor" who pays this massive markup to buy gold deserves not to be called "investor" and deserves to lose their money!

5 Outlandish Tech Myths About Japan

Over at Dvice they have an interesting article about how outrageous claims are about robots, vending machines, etc. are in Japan.

Here's a snippet from 5 Outlandish Tech Myths About Japan:

Of the roughly 5.5 million vending machines in Japan (the highest density of such machines on the planet), the beverage component (including beer) generated a staggering $27 billion last year. The remaining machines dole out things like candy, food, cigarettes, tickets, and toys. But if you follow the sensational random reports from various blogs, you'd think the streets were lined with machines spitting out lady's undergarments, and various other perverse curios of Japanese arcana.


The truth is that although there are indeed vending machines that dispense such underground items, these machines are almost exclusively limited to specialized establishments that cater to, well, unique customers. You could spend a year traveling throughout Japan and never see anything more threatening in the public machines than a fattening chocolate snack.

Read more about Japan's robots, Internet Cafes, school girls (yes, it's an article about Japan so school girls are required), and Electric City at Dvice.