The News

• Yo-Kai Express, which makes an eponymous hot ramen vending machine, today officially announced its expansion in to Japan with the installation of three new machines in that country.

• Yo-Kai machines are now installed at Haneda Airport Terminal 2, 1st floor; Shibaura Parking Area on the Metropolitan Expressway Expressway No. 11 Daiba Route; and J.R. East Tokyo Station, Grandsta Tokyo, B1F “Square Zero.”

• Yo-Kai is entering into Japan with partnerships with Japanese ramen brand Ippudo and SoftBank Robotics (a relationship the company had never revealed before).

• In its press release, the company said it now has 50 machines operating in the United States, and the company has served 200,000 meals since its founding in 2016.

The Story

We already knew that Yo-Kai’s machine was installed at the Haneda Airport last month, but that was just the tip of the iceberg for the company as it appears to be aggressively moving into Japan.

Worth noting in today’s announcement are two of Yo-Kai’s partners in Japan: Ippudo, a Japanese ramen brand, and SoftBank Robotics. Prior to today, the company had never publicly revealed it was working with SoftBank.