You can get almost anything in a vending machine in Japan, and now that apparently includes toy kaido racers. Just drop in ¥1,000 (approximately $10 USD) and out comes your 1:64-scale bosozoku-style minicars.
The cars are made by Aoshima as part of their Gurachan series, and include bosozoku favorites like Nissan Skylines and Toyota Mark IIs. Naturally, all are slammed, flared, and come with small-diameter wheels. Normally they come in sealed boxes so it’s a gamble if you want a specific model or color.
The machine was spotted by a Twitter user named genteiichiba, who says it’s located in Dream Plaza in Shimizu Ward, Shizuoka Prefecture. This makes sense, as Shizuoka is the home of Aoshima, as well as many other model companies. Often, home regions will proudly showcase local industries in interesting ways. You can probably get these cars in a regular store too, but for the novelty factor you can’t beat a vending machine.
F Models in Tokyo also has a similar setup, where you can buy old Tomica models from a vending machine for 800 yen a car, a Tomica Limited Vintage model for 1000 yen or a Kyosho model for 500 yen.
only 4 years ago these were more like 100-200 yen. i have 3 i got and like them all. about a dollar apiece at the time. the price went up.
The one in the vending machine looks like the series I have. I bought a sealed box for around $100 when this series launched.