Originally I did what I always do when I want to see if something is true: I used Snopes. Snopes claims that Japan having used panties vending machines is absolutely true. This confirmation has been backed up by numerous visitors and tourists, military personnel stationed in Japan, and various photos that have popped up online over the years. However, you’d be hard pressed to find a Japanophile that likes to talk about this subject as most of them get quickly annoyed and laugh off the idea as an urban legend and ignorance of the Japanese culture.
What’s interesting for me is, selling used or dirty panties is not just a Japanese trend, it’s a world wide fetish. I personally have never bought a pair of used panties, but when Venice and I were apart during our college years, I loved receiving care packages from her. Whether it be homemade cookies, candy, cute mementos, sexy photos, or yes, even a ziplocked bag of her worn panties for me to smell her naughty scents, I loved it. I have also heard many stories of soldiers overseas being sent used panties from their girlfriends or wives, so the idea of used panties being a turn on shouldn’t surprise anyone. I suppose the difference is, buying used panties from a vending machine that supposedly was worn by a random young school girl is just embarrassing. Which I admit, it is. Which is why selling them in vending machines makes that much more sense.
Western society looks for firm, youthful bodies housing the attitudes of grown women – we like them young but we don’t like them to act young. In the West, a teen’s sex appeal is dependent upon her ability to look and act much older, thus the fascination with makeup and plunging necklines, accouterments that make her appeal less of a child and more of a woman. In Japan, the ideal is reversed – sexy in the Land of the Rising Sun adds up to childlike behavior and modes of dress that express this ideal. Sometimes this amounts to the adoption of clothing styles highly reminiscent of high school uniforms, but even when a girl dons an evening gown, she will strive to look like a kinderling caught parading in Mom’s finery. Likewise, childish outburts, pouting, and tantrums are viewed as charmingly erotic because such actions work to further the violated schoolgirl image. For those that have viewed any authentic Japanese porn, most women moan like young girls and whine and/or cry while they are having intercourse or giving oral sex. This also plays into that ideal.
For a price, girls supplying buru-sera items for resale will don a new pair of panties at a porn shop in the morning on their way to school, then change back into their own underwear at the end of the day at the same shop, leaving its proprietor with a sellable item. Girls can also turn a profit of their own used undies by offloading them to the same people. Generally, the more worn the item, the higher the price it will fetch. Porn shops featuring buru-sera items also vend girls’ used school uniforms.
Japan has a tradition of vending through machines that Western society would view as unusual products. In addition to the many items on would typically expect to find offered for sale in this manner, porn magazines, pantyhose, alcohol, frozen food, and yes, even fresh eggs.
Part of the appeal of using vending machines for most products is convenience. For the more sex related items, of course, the biggest concern is privacy. There is less chance of embarrassment in buying condoms from a machine than from a store where the sale must be rung up and bagged by a clerk. Likewise, purchases of porn magazines or videos are less likely to be blush-producing experiences when these transactions occur.
The first “schoolgirl panties” machines appeared in Chiba City in 1993. This is an area known for its porn magazine and adult video vending machines. Almost immediately an outcry was raised against them, but there was a problem in getting them removed: Whereas sellers required licenses to distribute other types of goods, no such requirement was on the books for soiled underwear, because no one had foreseen the possibility of trade in such item. These machines existed outside the law in the sense that no specific statute existed that could be invoked to combat them.
The solution was as creative as it is odd-sounding — the machines were countered by invoking the Antique Dealings Law, a statue which stipulates that an antique dealer in second-hand items must obtain permission from local authorities. Lacking those permissions, the items could no the vended.
In September 1993, three businessmen were charged with selling used panties without a permit under the provenance of this law. This supposedly ended the presence of such salespoints in that county, but like snopes said, countless readers, military, and tourists have written blogs and articles about the different panty vending machines that can still be found.“
There are a few blogs that claim these vending machines never existed or no longer exist in Japan today. Some of these people use the photo to the left as an example of western culture misunderstanding what the vending machines actually sell. Not to mention, it is not legal to sell used items without a special license and permission from local authorities. The photo to the left translated says: Imported directly from America, tried and true amazing products. Supposedly, according to a few Japanophile blogs, the vending machine sells new panties. I assume this is also the same way eBay only sells new panties as well, as their policies also prohibits the sale of used panties. However, used panty sellers online game eBay with sneaky / provocative descriptions such as: “Tried and true. I only put them on to see if the size was accurate, otherwise they are brand new!” In other words: “The panties are used, worn and authentic. Who wants them!?”
It’s not like the vending machine is selling an American product where the workmanship is possibly a selling point. “Imported directly from America, tried and true amazing product.” In sneaky / provocative dirty panty talk, this means, American panties, tried on and authentic. Even if the panties inside the machine are brand new, the advertising point is still suggestive of exactly what everyone thinks the vending machine is. Not to mention, inside certain shops, you can buy much more than just used panties. To pretend it doesn’t exist is ridiculous. If our culture used vending machines the way the Japanese culture uses them, we’d probably have narcotic vending machines in the projects. Instead, we just have guys standing on the corners. I wonder if Americanophiles obsessed with American culture in Japan ever blindly defend us and say no drugs are sold on corners because it’s illegal.
The Japanese culture, specifically, their sex culture, has always interested me. There is nothing more intriguing than seeing cartoon / anime photos of young school girls with wet dripping thighs and dirty camel toes on the front of their panty packages (I guess women buying new panties in Japan like to see what they will look like dressed as young school girls in their panties, while falling on the ground with their legs spread open and accidentally getting wet and dirty while having a panty wedgie). Admittedly, I assume Japanophiles are offended by the comments from some of us uneducated westerners, especially being that the first thing that crosses our minds when walking down the streets in Japan would be, “Where are those used panty vending machines?” It’s okay Japanophiles, Americans sell their used panties all the time. Whether it be on Twitter, eBay, or any other social network where men get to interact with a female they find attractive and entertaining. In fact, Venice herself has had a few requests to send her panties to a few of our blog readers, and although we were a bit hesitant, eventually we ourselves fell prey to this “dirty” act. And now, somewhere in Canada, someone is sniffing Venice’s used panties and reading her blog. If only we could set up a virtual vending machine on our website…
Sources: Snopes, The Daily Yomiuri, Tokyo Business Today