What’s unique about this vending machine may draw your eye if you look carefully enough.

Vending machines in Japan are something special. Not only are they everywhere, but they always have a nice mixture of various hot and cold drinks, so that wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, you will never go thirsty.

One vending machine has become a hot topic on Twitter, but can you tell why? It’s not because it sells alcohol, because that’s not uncommon in Japan. And it’s not like it has any unusual beverages, like demi-glass soup or the strawberry shortcake drink. In fact it has the usual vending machine fare: coffee, tea, water, soda, Pocari Sweat…So what’s so special about it?

Let’s zoom in for a closer look.

Can you see it now? Yes, that’s right! Every label for every drink is actually hand-drawn!

Not only have they been created by hand, but they’re exactly to scale. Every line, every letter, every logo; everything has been accurately drawn to look completely realistic, down to even the fine details of the alcohol content on the liquor cans! It’s an amazing exercise of artistic talent and attention to detail that could have gone unnoticed if Twitter user @uranchon hadn’t looked carefully.

@uranchon doesn’t say why everything is hand-drawn, but judging from the writing on the first Asahi beer can, we guess that it was perhaps an art project by a group of students. We can’t see the full label of the can, but it looks like it says “…mitsu Famiry 2013 membar”, under which many names are written. We can’t say for sure, but it might be that each of these people contributed to this fantastic display.

Unsurprisingly, this artistic vending machine has gone viral on Japanese Twitter, with over 230,000 likes and retweets. Japanese netizens love it, and almost unanimously praise the artists’ talent:

“Wow!”
“So talented!”
“This is amazing!”
“Genius!”
“I can feel their love.”
“I want the cans to come out looking just like that!”
“That’s awesome! I’m going to pay more attention to my surroundings now lol”

@uranchon doesn’t specify where exactly this vending machine is, though they say it’s in a hotel somewhere. But it just goes to show that vending machines can always hold surprises! The next time you pass by one in Japan, make sure to stop and take a good look at it. You might find something really unexpected.

Source: Twitter/@uranchon