Kirin Beverage Co Ltd has unveiled a new vending machine that comes equipped with a small built-in security camera.
While installing security cameras within vending machines is nothing new, Kirin’s “Mimamori" ( Monitoring) vending machine has a high-performance compact camera that sets it apart from previous models, Fuji TV reported. Furthermore, while cameras installed at a high position make it difficult to decipher facial expressions on individuals wearing hats, the new model’s camera is positioned at eye-level so it can clearly make out the faces of both customers and passersby.
Kirin Beverage Co’s subsidiary company Kirin Beverage Value Vendor, a vending machine management company, has signed an agreement with Nishiarai police station in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward to install 30 machines along school routes and in public parks in the area by the end of this year.
© Japan Today
14 Comments
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serendipitous1
Didn't think vending machine crime was big in Japan and that's one of the reasons they have so many machines.
smithinjapan
serendepitous1: It's probably to get information on drinking habits so the machine can chime in on what you can buy next as you approach it. Haha. Just playing conspiracy.
But I doubt they'll function well, if at all. Probably like Taspo cameras. And what's to stop you from just blocking it?
blvtzpk
I think, perhaps, these cameras are not intended to monitor the users but instead the surroundings and the people in these surroundings:
”Kirin Beverage Value Vendor, a vending machine management company, has signed an agreement with Nishiarai police station in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward to install 30 machines along school routes and in public parks in the area by the end of this year.”
Sounds more like a ‘free’ surveillance system.
Disillusioned
Good! The more cameras, the better! The only ones who have objections are those with something to hide.
Belrick
Easily blocked with a can of spray paint or glue.
mmwkdw
Whatever happened to the beer vending machines in the street ?
Middleoftheroad
Remember when they used to say "Big Brother is watching you" as a joke? Well, seems it is no longer a joke!
oldman_13
No surprise these things are felt necessary these days. Japan now is not the same of Japan even 10 years ago.
Michael Jackson
And with facial recognition technology the machine will blackmail you into buying a drink every time you get near. "hey you, either you buy the most expensive drink in this machine, or we send an email to your wife that includes a picture of you walking with any woman we decide to photoshop into the picture"
Pukey2
Stop giving Abe more ideas.
Yuko Maeda
Would work much better if they didnt tell the general public.
RareReason
No they wouldn't. Not at all. The whole point is its a deterrent.
Which is better... Predators do not grab kids on their way to school because they know there's cameras everywhere... Or we were able to use the secret camera hidden in a vending machine to find the guy that's killed some poor kid.
Look beyond whats immediately presented to you and figure out why things are done.
Stewart Gale
You can’t even buy a drink from a vending machine now without being filmed.....