http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQgJ5h4XJHY
I think this qualifies as the weirdest thing sold from a vending machine.
Weirder than the used schoolgirl panties vending machines in Japan? I dunno…
I think the used schoolgirls underwear being sold in vending machines in Japan is a bit more weird. It’s called Burusera, and also includes sale of urine, saliva, sanitary products.
**
kidneyfailure** beat me to it, I got distracted looking at the sites that verify this is still going on even though it was banned in 2004
They probably sometimes contain crabs too.
wonder what those crabs taste like.
Fish.
Y’know what I find interesting? That it was apparently a big enough problem that somebody said, “Fuck, we need to outlaw the sale of schoolgirls’ used panties. I mean, seriously, we need to put a stop to that shit.” The mind boggles.
That’s cool! How do you eat a live crab, though? Especially in that place? No way to bash him open, no way to cook them?
They didn’t show you the vending machine 50 yards away that sells mallets, Zippo lighters and melted butter.
Before I even opened this thread, I knew this was going to be in Japan.
I still don’t get it, though. Are you supposed to eat it live? Keep it as a pet? What?
Lucky for njtt & pudytat72 in that I didn’t have any liquids in my mouth at the time… 
It’s got to be symptomatic of surviving two nuclear blasts. The post-apocalyptic world is far more likely to remind us of Japan than Mad Max, I think.
nah, they taste like chicken
I can top the crab machine, and right here in the good ole U.S. of A. You know those toy cranes games, where you move the claw around and then drop it and hope it picks up a stuffed animal? I’ve seen one of those over a lobster tank.
Video proof. And contrary to the narration, the one I saw was in Boston.
Actually, the vending machine is in China. It is just a Japanese news crew doing the video.
If it was dead food, I would agree with you, but live food? Apparently, even the Japanese thought it was a little weird.
BTW, the report was from Japan, but the vending machine is being sold in China. If you look during the video, the currency being used has a picture of Mao Zedong on it.
I assume that they would just take the crabs home to prepare them. I’m not into seafood myself, but a store near my house had a good price on live blue crabs, so I sometimes would be asked to pick some up when I was going to their house.
Those little crabs, all stuck in their individual sealed pods, still alive.
Its like The Matrix for crustaceans.
Thank god. I was going crazy saying to myself “It’s China!” (For example: note the renmimbi sliding into the slot.) “But … that person is JAPANESE! But … that person is CHINESE? WTF, can’t I even tell the difference?”
Your post has saved me from feeling very ashamed.
*<crab with a black shell emerges from the machine wielding a machine pistol in each claw> *
Wow, I can’t believe that exists! Where in town did you see this magical claw game?