Wonders from Japan

The Gizmodo report on the am3 Anime Vending machine reminded me to post some photos I took when visiting Trendy in L.A. The Japanese love making cute and colorful machines. It is no doubt that much of the Japanese technology market is driven by girl teenagers over there. With a huge Asian population in California, many of these strange looking machines make their way over to the State side. Below is a few photos I snapped of the original Japanese photo vending booths. Of course, these are not one of those booths that you have seen in the U.S. Not only do these machines have instructions written all in Japanese which I cannot read, they do not even look like photo vending booths. If Trendy did not tell me, I would probably have never guessed.

This is the entrance to the place. Yes, this is in California, U.S.A.

This is what it looks like inside.

This is the automatic camera inside the booth.

The photo editing machine.

After the machine snaps shots of you, you may then edit your photos by adding colorful flowers, text, lines, and etc. In a way, it is like photoshopping made easier. After you are satisfied prettying up your pictures, the machine then prints them out. And yes, I admit, I do have one of these cute photos in my wallet.