In many ways Japan seems like a paradise. Crime free, almost, 70%+ forest coverage, technologically advanced but still respect for long-standing cultural traditions. It's unrivalled social cohesiveness comes at the cost though of a lack of diversity. For example, I read somewhere it gets less than 100 asylum seekers a year.
>technologically advanced
You might revise your opinion about that somewhere around the hundredth time somebody tells you that you have to communicate with them by fax.
After the Fukushima earthquake I was walking from Ebisu to Roppongi (all the subways were shuttered). A cold evening and I wasn't properly dressed. Then I turned the corner and saw a machine with Tommy Lee Jones' staring down selling hot cans of Boss Coffee. Made the night a little easier.
Do you know long the coffee cans are kept heated? I'm concerned that those cans have had hot coffee in them for days on end, which is generally not good for food (heat breaks down its nutrients and often produces free radical byproducts).
Those Japanese vending machines blow my mind. I got lost on takao mountain once and was utterly hopeless of ever finding civilization again. I found abandoned and rotting tractors the forest had taken back, weird half completed concrete structures, the trail was gone, I was well and truly lost. Then, I turn a corner, and find a goddamned vending machine. Powered. With stock. I followed its power cord back for a solid…
Who buys stuff in a vending machine in the middle of nowhere though ? I am really intrigued.
Part of the reason there are so many vending machines around is preparation for a disaster; vending machines from at least the last 15 years will dispense drinks for free in the event of a disaster.
According to this site Coca Cola dispensed around four million free drinks on 2011/3/11 (Great East Japan Earthquake).
A little random but I thought some of you might want to know what the stores were that were next to the vending machines in the photos. Pictures: 1. Alcohol and food store 2. No store 3. No store 4. Alcohol store 5. Eel restaurant 6. No store 7. Egg vending store (direct from farmer) 8. Rice polishing vending machine (turns brown rice in to white) 9. No store 10. Sightseeing ferry office/shop 11. Apple store (actuall…
I've seen photos of people gathered around beer vending machines having a jolly time from before 24/7 convenience stores took over that particular market segment.
Those Japanese vending machines blow my mind. I got lost on takao mountain once and was utterly hopeless of ever finding civilization again. I found abandoned and rotting tractors the forest had taken back, weird half completed concrete structures, the trail was gone, I was well and truly lost. Then, I turn a corner, and find a goddamned vending machine. Powered. With stock. I followed its power cord back for a solid…
Man, how'd you get lost on Mount Takao? It's always so crowded... if you have any info that'd let one find that lone vending machine, I'm interested :)
At least when I went there it wasn't very crowded. There was a group of people at the summit (with vending machine present, of course), but otherwise hardly any people. However it was a slightly foggy day, so you couldn't see much from the summit. It is possible that on a clear day there are crowds trying to see Mount Fuji or something.
Yeah. Every now and again you'll also come across some 50-year old looking mechanical rice vending machine, selling 5, 10 and 15 kg bags of rice.
The photo 5th from the bottom actually appears to be of a coin-operated rice mill!
those, you bring your own rice though, so a bit different. (they're pretty common in the countryside!)
The first time I saw one, I was probably ~6 years old and my grandfather stopped by on our way home to mill some of the rice he had grown. I was confused since growing up in the States, I had never seen non-white rice until that point.
Those Japanese vending machines blow my mind. I got lost on takao mountain once and was utterly hopeless of ever finding civilization again. I found abandoned and rotting tractors the forest had taken back, weird half completed concrete structures, the trail was gone, I was well and truly lost. Then, I turn a corner, and find a goddamned vending machine. Powered. With stock. I followed its power cord back for a solid…
> I got lost on takao mountain once and was utterly hopeless of ever finding civilization again. Wait, what? Takao mountain is in Tokyo! Yeah, not central Tokyo but still, it's like a 45min train ride from Shinjuku. You make it sound like it's some remote place full of bears. :-p
Can't you get prettttyy deep in those mountains though? Also if you go pretty deep, I imagine the trails aren't really marked well, if at all.
(was in a more remote mountain that's ~2 hours away from Tokyo last year)
Are there still machines selling cans of beer? That was one of the highlights of my visit to Tokyo. My host advised me that I must either stand at the machine and drink it or put it away while I walked. No drinking and walking. I was 14.
>My host advised me that I must either stand at the machine and drink it or put it away while I walked. No drinking and walking.
The animation on getting drinks out of vending machines in Shenmue (Dreamcast game) makes a lot more sense now.