Purchasing slightly defective cured meats while doing a load of laundry has never been easier!
It was a quiet day in the SoraNews24 newsroom when suddenly a hot lead came in. It said that a vending machine which sold bacon, sausages, and other pork products was installed in a laundromat in Fukuoka City.
Why was such a machine in such a place? This looked like a job for our paranormal reporter Masanuki Sunakoma.
He sped along the highway towards Fukuoka and mentally prepared himself for his mission. Visions of machine-bought sausages consumed his mind.
The tip said that the machine was somewhere in Minami Ward near a hospital and post office. That wasn’t much to go on, so Masanuki decided to park his car and comb the area on foot.
He must have walked about three meters (nine feet) when suddenly…
▼ “Oh… There it is.”
By sheer luck, the place, called Coin Laundry Okusu, just happened to be right by Masanuki’s parking spot. Also, as if they were expecting him, a banner was hung in front which read, “Here is the rumored vending machine ham shop.”
For the most part Okusu looked like your average run-of-the-mill laundromat.
But past the machines, something extraordinary was installed in the corner: A vending machine full of pork.
“Why?” thought Masanuki when, in another act of serendipity, a man came in to refill the machine.
Masanuki repeated his question out loud to the serviceman who explained that this machine was a sort of outlet store for Kyushoku, a pork processing company whose head office was located in the same building as this laundromat.
▼ The giant pictures of sausage men outside suddenly made much more sense.
These machines contained products which were safe to consume but unsellable because they were outside of specifications. As a result the stock varies from day to day.
On this particular day there was a lot of wieners and bacon both in strip and diced form. All of it was reasonably priced between 100 and 400 yen (US$0.93 and $3.71).
Masanuki decided to buy a 180-gram pack of mentaiko sausages for 250 yen ($2.32). At this time a lot of other people came in to buy stuff from the machine. Apparently, it was so well-known in the area that everyone seemed to know when the machine was getting stocked too. The Super Spicy Wieners appeared to be the most popular item.
With this mystery solved, Masanuki went back home and cooked up his wieners. Despite being technically “defective” they were quite delicious and fresh tasting.
Apparently, these machines are located in other parts of Fukuoka City and there’s even one near the Kyushoku factory in Tosu City, Saga Prefecture. So, if you happen to be in the area, doing a load of whites and wanting to avoid paying retail for ham slices, keep an eye out for one.
Vending Machine Information
Ham / Sausage Vending Machine (Coin Laundry Okusu) / ハム・ソーセージ自販機「コインランドリーおおくす」
Fukuoka-shi, Minami-ku, Ogusu 1-24-4
福岡市南区大楠1-24-4
Machine Hours: 6:00 a.m. – 1:00 a.m.
Photos © SoraNews24
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