Passage 2

What do video cassettes, ice cream, pizzas, whisky and bouquets of flowers all have in common? The answer is that in Japan they can all be bought from a vending machine (自动售货机). Japan boasts more vending machines per person than any other country in the world, with one for every 22 people. America, by contrast, has one for every 46; the European community only for every 200.

Japanese vending machines are also more productive and sales per machine are almost two-thirds higher than in America, because the Japanese machines sell high-value products, like whisky, as well as the usual Coca-cola and gum.

Want a cigarette or a bar of chocolate? In America or Britain the nearest vending machine is probably damaged, empty, or accepts only the right money in the wrong coins. Thanks to its low crime-rates and sophisticated electronics, Japan's vending machines are much more reliable. They are also less likely to run out, thanks to on-line monitoring of stocks.

Despite what looks likesaturation by anyone else's standards, the number of vending machines in Japan is set to grow. This is because the labour-saving advantages of vending machines have yet to be fully exploited. Declining birth rates, an aging population and tight controls on immigration are creating a shortage of low-wage workers in Japan and boosting the demand for ever cleverer machines. One of the fastest growing sectors is heated food such as pizzas. A vending machine can replace waitresses in hamburger joints, ticket vendors in cinemas and counter staff in all-night stores.

The latest trend is vending machines that sell love. Men looking for a girl-friend or women for a boy-friend can pay to have their vital statistics fed into the love machine including their name, telephone number and, more important of all, the kind of car they drive. Then they can get information about their ideal life partner.

What is the purpose of the question raised at the beginning of the article?