Patrons at Tokyo's first fully automated convenience store eye shelved filled with everything from gum and batteries to noodles and magazines.
You deposit your coins and make your choice: dried squid or hair tonic, batteries or green tea, boxers or beer. It's all enticingly on display under the fluorescent lights of a truck-sized vending machine parked in the lobby of Tokyo's Shibuya Excel Hotel. The New Economy comes in a variety of offerings, and this is the ultimate in high-tech self-serve. Manufactured by Sanyo Electric, this fully automated mini-convenience store is part of a new generation of vending machines popping up in a country that's long been obsessed with coin-slot culture. Sanyo's Auto Shop Vendor isn't just bigger than the Coke-and-coffee machines...
