In the modern world, there are many ways to meet the love of your life: swiping right on Tinder (other dating sites and apps are available); going naked on a national television programme; hanging around your local supermarket on a singles night; or trying speed dating and meeting more inappropriate suitors than you thought would be possible in such a limited time.
Not that the modern world has a monopoly on unusual ways of wooing. In 19th-century Austria, social events would apparently see young women keep slices of apple under their armpits ready to be presented to any dashing young man who took their fancy.
Meanwhile, in some parts of Europe – examples have been found in both Wales and Germany dating as far back as the 17th century – it was the custom for young men to carve wooden spoons to be presented to the object of their affections as a token of both their romantic intentions and their skills as a craftsman, thus making them an eligible match in the process.
However, surely matching any of the above on the oddness scale – with the possible exception of the apples in the armpits – is a concept that has been recently launched in Japan: matchmaking vending machines.
Matchmaking Vending Machines
While the concept of buying love is not unique, the idea of doing it via the medium of a vending machine certainly is. Towards the end of last year, a new vending machine appeared in Tokyo’s Kamata neighbourhood containing brightly coloured pink and beige cans with a message on the outside saying something along the lines of “I am advisor Ishikawa. There is a 27-year-old woman who wants to get married. Won’t you meet with her? I will advise you.”
Unfortunately, although the machine has been turned on, every can is showing as sold and there’s also a message saying that the service doesn’t actually start until March 2022.
How they’ll work
If you’re passing a matchmaking vending machine and suddenly feel that it may represent the best chance of you finding your soulmate, all you have to do is drop in 3000 yen (a little under £20) and in return you’ll receive one of those brightly coloured cans. Each can represents a person seeking love – pink cans are for women, while men are represented by beige cans.
Once you hold a can in your hand, and if you are a match with the details of the person contained inside, you are then entitled to a one-hour interview with an advisor from the agency that owns the machine.
After that, you will be entitled to a three-hour dinner date with your match, although this will actually cost you another 9000 yen (close to £60) service fee plus, of course, the cost of the meal itself.
Should everything come good and you end up marrying your match, you will then have to pay the agency another 300,000 yen (that’s over £1900).
As mentioned, the matchmaking vending machine doesn’t yet appear to be in operation, so we have no information as to whether it’s proving at all popular with lonely or lovelorn Tokyoites. The benefits to those using it all seem a touch hazy and uncertain to us, the vague possibility of something wonderful happening too far in the future – nothing like the instant satisfaction you get when you buy a tasty drink or snack from one of our vending machines.
Matchmaking vending machines are not yet part of the range available from us at Nu Vending – and, realistically, are unlikely to be at any point in the future. But while you may not find true love via one of our machines, you are bound to fall in love with the top-quality selection of vending machines, coffee machines and water dispensers we supply to customers across large parts of London and the South East.
Contact us today to find out more.
