Sometimes you're out in the middle of a rice field, out in Gunma prefecture, when the urge strikes. You need to do some impulse buying. More specifically, you have a sudden need for some used underwear and a blue video or three.

That's when you hit the Hentai Hut. Yes folks, it's a shed. It's a shed full of vending machines. A shed full of vending machines catering to those innermost hentai desires.

The funny thing is, I've had people telling me about vending machines full of used girls' underwear for years, asking me can you believe this?, talking about how they heard about it on one of those shows that goes into how odd the Japanese are, etc. There's a scene in the movie "Bounce" that shows a girl selling undies to a broker in Tokyo. But I'd never actually SEEN one. I guess I don't hang out in the "right" parts of Tokyo (though it seems Andrew and I got pretty close while looking for the rock bar). So - now I have. Out in the middle of nowhere. It's since been pointed out to me that probably folks in the Big City don't need to mess around with vending machines...