Gadgets and Gizmos- Japanese style

 Since moving to Okinawa I have had the pleasure of discovering all the funky Japanese gadgets and gizmos. Where do I even begin??? Let's start with their love for vending machines. There is an estimated 5.6 million vending machines in Japan, about 1 for every 20 people, CRAZY! You might think "wow, they consume a lot of soda" but you are verrry mistaken! The contents of Japanese vending machines range from hot tea/coffee, soup, rice, ice cream, fresh eggs, live lobsters??? to cigarettes, umbrellas, makeup, and blue jeans. I have yet to see some of these in person but I can't wait until I do! (I will take lots of pictures, I promise) Here are some more common ones:

This is the typical drink vending machine, it sells both cold and hot drinks. I would totally buy a drink from this just because Tommy Lee Jones is on it!

Cigarette vending machines- I'm glad to see the Japanese don't support smoking! Don't be too alarmed though, in order to purchase the cigarettes you have to go to a convenience or grocery store (show your ID) and buy a debit card type thing that you then insert into the machines.

This one is my favorite, an umbrella vending machine. It rains here almost on a daily basis so this is by far the most handy machine!

On to our next gadget, Japanese toilets. I used to think bidets were fancy but these toilets don't even compare!

Notice the side bar on your left, this is what makes these toilets so cool. This side bar has different cleaning settings as well as a sound button that plays flushing noises, river sounds or chirping birds
(for those who are shy).

We had one of these puppies in our first house here, the best part was when you sat down the seat was heated!

This next nifty gadget- a table buzzer, is used to get the waitresses attention at restaurants: 

The last gadget is not really a gadget at all but I didn't know what other category to put it into besides the category of junk!

I guess you would call this car flair?? This set up is pretty mild to what you normally see but I had an opportunity to snap this and I was not going to miss it! I don't think this will ever catch on in the U.S. (at least I hope not!)