Billed as a first, the Super Toaster can hold two loaves of bread and slice them with internal blades before making them crispy with infrared light.

"Because bread is sliced immediately before being toasted, you can enjoy its fine texture and taste," said Kenji Nakagawa, president of Neutral, a food equipment firm in the northern city of Sapporo.

Diners, however, would still have to manually spread butter on their toast.

Neutral plans to market the toaster for about 1.1 million yendollars) from April and is studying ways to bring the product to overseas markets.

Whatever market may exist among finicky eaters, Nakagawa said the main clients were expected to be convenience stores, hotels, hospitals and company cafeterias.

"We have received strong interest from hoteliers who have nice bread but have not been able to offer it freshly toasted to their guests," he noted.

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