ドライブの途中、気になっていた内子町のおりがみ販売機へ。作品は10円から50円。いろいろかわいい◎ pic.twitter.com/zvYMqEMwgn

— ぼん (@bon_chic) April 8, 2017

Located in the rural town of Uchiko in Ehime Prefecture, this vending machine contains a range of beautifully folded origami designs. The traditional Japanese art of paper folding isn’t something you’d immediately think to connect to a vending machine, but this one proves that when the two worlds collide, the results can be simply beautiful.

Selections from the bottom row, which retail for just ¥10 each, include (below, from left to right): a plane, a shuriken ninja throwing star, a goldfish balloon, a rabbit balloon and a balloon with wings.

The middle row features designs that retail for ¥50 each, consisting of (from left to right): a frog that jumps when pressed, a pair of lips that open and close, a crow that opens its beak, an acrobatic horse that flips and a spinning top.

Items in the top row retail for ¥30 each, featuring designs that change seasonally. For spring, we can see three helmets on the left, a sword in the middle, and to the right of that, some koinobori carp streamers. All these items are commonly displayed in homes with sons as part of Japan’s Boys’ Day celebrations on May 5. To the right of the flying carp, there’s a Japanese iris, followed by a decorated envelope, which is used to give money to children on special days at this time of year, which include Girls’ Day on March 3, Boys’ Day on May 5, and Children’s Day, which is also celebrated on May 5

According to Japanese news reports, the designs are made by a 61 year-old woman who runs the shop where the machine is located. Instead of discarding one of their old vending machines, they decided to put it to use by selling origami pieces with it instead.

It’s a wonderful idea that we hope will inspire other vending machine owners around the country, because this is one unique commercial operation we’d definitely love to see spring up on street corners around Japan!

To find this one of a kind vending machine in Ehime Prefecture, click on the full story from RocketNews24!

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