VEGGIE VENDING MACHINES WHERE? JAPAN, OF COURSE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 19, 1993                   TAG: 9303190306
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MARI YAMAGUCHI ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: TOKYO                                LENGTH: Medium
VEGGIE VENDING MACHINES WHERE? JAPAN, OF COURSE
A HEALTHY IDEA, you say. But there's a downside. It's a way Japanese farmers can avoid being ripped off. In Japan, where millions of vending machines dispense beer, cigarettes and porn magazines, something more wholesome is now on display in the lighted windows: fresh vegetables.
\ The machines, while reflecting a healthier trend in vended merchandise, also reflect a decline in ethical standards in Japan.
Roadside fruit and vegetable stalls, which once operated successfully on the honor system, have been ripped off in recent years. Farmers who could not spare the manpower to operate the stands found a solution to their problem in the produce machines.
"The machine has become a popular stop in our neighborhood," said Nobue Koike, a farmer's wife in Osaka whose machine offers a head of cabbage or lettuce for 85 cents. "I'm happy with it, because I've always wanted to sell vegetables directly to consumers."
Kenzo Yasumoto of Mitsubishi Agricultural Machinery, which manufactures and sells the machines, said the prices for the tomatoes, cucumbers and other produce is the same or cheaper than in retail stores.
The company introduced 10 experimental machines in November and will begin full-scale distribution next month, Yasumoto said. It hopes to sell 1,000 machines the first year.
"Kids like it a lot - they want to see how vegetables come out," Koike said. "But I also have a feeling that people like machines better because this way they don't have to talk to anyone."

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB