Japanese vending machines to automatically offer free food in earthquakes

Supply of nutritional supplements and drinks would be unlocked in the event of a major disaster

A man surveys wreckage after an earthquake in Japan
The aftermath of an earthquake in east Japan in 2022
(Image credit: Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)

Vending machines in Japan will offer free food and drink in the event of a major earthquake or typhoon.

Two machines have been installed in the western coastal city of Ako, which lies in a region that seismologists say is vulnerable to the Nankai Trough megaquake that is expected to hit the country’s central and southwest Pacific coast in the next few decades.

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  Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.