You can get pretty much anything through a vending machine in Japan these days - even bread. But for products that come with an age restriction, the authorities are having a hard time thinking up new ways to prevent under-agers from getting their hands on them. Blogger "Pink Tentacle" has written about the discovery by a Japanese reporter that you can trick newly introduced age-verifying scanners on cigarette vending machines by holding up a picture of somebody older.

The wrinkle-scanning machines have barely come off the production line but are already proven failures in deterring under-20s (the legal age) from lighting up. With Japan counting one of the highest smoking rates in the world, it seems like a lame attempt at tackling the problem. Our Observer in the country wonders whether the Japanese government's 50% share in the tobacco industry has anything to do with it.