Complete with music and dancing, this is one of the most kawaii vending machines in all of Japan!

Japan is famous for its vending machines, but did you know there are some very cute ones that sell popcorn? These hard-to-find varieties generally feature Hello Kitty inside the clear window display, but Sanrio fans will be pleased to know there’s an even rarer variety featuring none other than…Cinnamoroll!

We stumbled upon the vending machine on a recent visit to DiverCity Tokyo Plaza in Tokyo’s Odaiba, which, as it turns out, is one of only a limited number of locations for the machine nationwide.

▼ These Cinnamoroll machines are new to the market, as they made their official debut in November last year.

The popcorn machine is decked out in Cinnamoroll’s pale blue hues, giving off a gentle glow of warmth and cuteness symbolic of the popular Sanrio character. 

▼ The blue bricks resemble the ones on Cafe Cinnamon in Sucre Town, where Cinnamoroll lives.

▼ Cinnamoroll looks adorable sitting in a bag of popcorn.

The machine isn’t just a feast for the eyes, because when you approach it, you can hear music emanating from it as well, with Cinnamoroll singing “You, I love you” while calling out, “How about some freshly made popcorn?”

▼ We needed no further prompting from the cute character to whip out our coins and insert 300 yen (US$1.97) into the machine.

Cinnamoroll serves up three popcorn flavours, lightly salted, butter, and caramel, and we opted for the caramel. After making our selection, the yellow counter inside the display began a countdown to indicate when our popcorn would be ready, and we were encouraged to help with the cooking process by turning the handle in the middle of the machine.

The delicious scent of popcorn made us hungry for our order, and as we counted down the seconds, Cinnamoroll kept us entertained by swaying along to the music as the popcorn display popped in front of him.

When our popcorn was ready, Cinnamoroll called out to say, “Hyaha, looks like it’s done!” That’s when we knew it was time to reach into the tray to pull out our bag of popcorn, and Cinnamoroll was here to guide us through this last step as well, with a sign reading, “Hot! When it’s ready, grab it by the tab, okay!” with an image showing where to hold the bag to avoid burning our fingers.

▼ Cinnamoroll, delivering sweet kindness every step of the way.

After pulling the bag out by the top tab as instructed, we found it was quite hot but not too hot for adult hands to handle so we were able to hold it up for a photo.

The bag was so cute it immediately brought a smile to our face and that smile widened even further when we opened the bag and tasted the popcorn. It was wonderfully hot and the caramel wasn’t overly sweet so we could easily finish the entire bag.

The freshly made popcorn tasted even better when we thought about the cute character who’d made it for us, and it was such a delightful experience from beginning to end that we researched all the current locations, as of 5 February, so Sanrio fans everywhere can enjoy Cinnamoroll’s popcorn too.

The full list of locations is as follows:

・Sanrio Shinjuku store
・Sanrio Puroland
・Hello Kitty Japan Diversity Tokyo Plaza Store
・Sanrio vivitix HEP FIVE店
・Shin Enoshima Aquarium
・Sanrio Gift Gate Minamimachida Granberry Park Store
・Sanrio Gift Gate Odakyu Department Store Machida Store
・Toys R Us Baby R Us Machida Tamasakai Store
・Tobu Utsunomiya Department Store 5th floor Sanrio
・Manya Morioka Store

With Cinnamoroll’s ever-growing popularity in Japan, Sanrio says it aims to add more locations to the above list in future. So keep an eye out for the cute machine in your area and if you are lucky enough to try one, let us know how you like the popcorn!

Related: Kokoro Co., Ltd.
Photos©SoraNews24
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