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Japanese Vending Machines at Night Juxtaposed with a Wintry Hokkaido Landscape

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Re: Japanese Vending Machines at Night Juxtaposed with a Wintry Hokkaido Landscape

#121

Post by Cthulhu_ »

jdale27 wrote: post #102
CryptoPunk wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-heating_can

Neat. I have / used to have a pair of 'hand warmers', plastic bags with a fluid of sorts and a copper (?) coin you can 'flip over', the click / shock causing the fluid to crystallise and generate heat. Those can be reused too by putting the (crystallised) bag into hot water for a bit.

Re: Japanese Vending Machines at Night Juxtaposed with a Wintry Hokkaido Landscape

#122

Post by Iv »

new299 wrote: post #75
Iv wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can confirm. I live in the countryside. There are vending machines down some roads with ricefields on both sides.

I've not seen that where I live (Kamogawa), but I want to now. Guess I need to search around the rice fields more. :) haha, I've just realized I know you. Will have to ask you where it is sometime. Small World.

Hehe, I got found out :-)

Close to where we used to live, by the bus stop in Hiratsuka, when I used to come back at night, the vending machine was brighter than the public lights.

Re: Japanese Vending Machines at Night Juxtaposed with a Wintry Hokkaido Landscape

#123

Post by barking »

Rainymood wrote: post #97
barking wrote: post #94

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.

> social cohesiveness Also known as xenophobia. >For example, I read somewhere it gets less than 100 asylum seekers a year. And this is by definition a good thing? Don't forget the awesome working hours and working culture! It's so good that they even have a word for the awesome overworking: Karoshi [1]. I wouldn't romanticize Japan this hard as you are doing right now, it has it's own sleuth of problems just like an…

Social Cohesiveness is not also known as xenophobia. Where foreigners tend to be so rare as to be exotic there tends not to be xenophobia. It's when the host community perceive themselves to be overrun that the xenophobia comes out.

Re: Japanese Vending Machines at Night Juxtaposed with a Wintry Hokkaido Landscape

#124

Post by Iv »

hkmurakami wrote: post #108
Iv wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can confirm. I live in the countryside. There are vending machines down some roads with ricefields on both sides.

Down the roads I've definitely seen. On the internal dirt paths was new to me (would love to see a photo!)

On dirt paths I have not seen yet. I am thinking about countryside roads with fields on both sides.

Re: Japanese Vending Machines at Night Juxtaposed with a Wintry Hokkaido Landscape

#125

Post by barking »

squimmy wrote: post #101
barking wrote: post #94

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.

LOL, though I recently had the same experience of when a doctor's secretary rather imperiously informed me that my test results would be faxed to my GP. Maybe fax is regarded as more secure than email?

Re: Japanese Vending Machines at Night Juxtaposed with a Wintry Hokkaido Landscape

#126

Post by Cthulhu_ »

mc32 wrote: post #47
krapp wrote: post #36

When the story about the Bodega startup[0] came out, it occurred to me that what they were trying to do was essentially what Japan is already doing with vending machines - automate retail at scale. Unfortunately, Bodega tried to undermine, transform and rebrand the local culture in a way that many found offensive, but that aside, I wonder what particular cultural elements make vending machines seem so successful in J…

I don't get the bodega hooplah. Every startup is taking away some way of making a living of someone else. It's like saying pizza hut coopted Italian pizza joints and drove Italian pizza makers out of biz. Sure, it did, but aside from the fact jobs were lateralized, what's the big deal about transforming the biz? Same with Uber et all.

The main big deal is that it managed to lower the price of those products. The TL;DR effect of that is that it removed people from the middle class and drove most of the jobs to the lower class (e.g. pizza delivery, production line pizza making), and a few to the upper class (a handful of companies owning the pizza market, instead of dozens if not hundreds of local pizza restaurants).

Same with Uber, it drives the price down and turns taxis into a fairly exclusive and respectable job (I'm mostly thinking about the London Black Cabs or the fancy Mercedes taxis I see here in NL) to a race to the bottom. The same happened to the postal service, turning it from a respectable middle class uniformed government or semi-governmental job to something stay-at-home moms do part-time. Mind you, the market changed and snail mail is nowhere near what it used to be. The markets for pizza and taxis haven't changed that much in comparison though.

Re: Japanese Vending Machines at Night Juxtaposed with a Wintry Hokkaido Landscape

#127

Post by DamonHD »

nandemo wrote: post #93
komali2 wrote: post #9

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

Hmm, I think I got peed on by naughty monkeys there. I should be grateful they weren't angry bears (or even angry birds!) I suppose...

Re: Japanese Vending Machines at Night Juxtaposed with a Wintry Hokkaido Landscape

#128

Post by Cthulhu_ »

odiroot wrote: post #118
rangibaby wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Crime free It's because there are police everywhere, which keeps petty crime under control. There is a bounty for turning in lost money (and if it is not claimed after a certain period the person who turned it in can keep the whole amount). Police are also mostly respected here because they (mostly) are helpful and don't harass citizens. Someone being beaten or shot by police like overseas just doesn't happen here.…

This may be a bit ignorant but why do they care so much about someone being Korean / of Korean ancestry? Both are East Asian. It's really hard to understand for my European mind.

Well they kinda invaded Korea for a long time for one. https://www.quora.com/Why-is-there-a-conflict-between-Korea-... explains that one.

European as in west-European? That part is relatively culturally and ethnically diverse; northern and eastern Europe are a lot less so, and tolerance towards foreigners is lower there. The English and French still really dislike one another for example, and they're much closer together than Japan and Korea.

Re: Japanese Vending Machines at Night Juxtaposed with a Wintry Hokkaido Landscape

#129

Post by TorKlingberg »

barking wrote: post #94

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.

If you ever live in Japan, you will alternate between "wow, this country is so wonderful, why can everywhere be nice like this?" and "this is so dysfunctional, how has the whole thing not collapsed yet?" Both are true in different ways. Economically, Japan is not doing great though, and I worry about the future of the big companies.

Also all foreigners in Japan seem to hate each other for ruining the "purity".

Re: Japanese Vending Machines at Night Juxtaposed with a Wintry Hokkaido Landscape

#130

Post by ramchip »

Grue3 wrote: post #106
GuiA wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There’s a huge difference between weekdays and weekends.
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