Vending machines
It is commonly said that there are about four million vending machines in Japan, or one machine for every 30-to-50 people. The observation has been made comically, as an example of ‘weird’ Japan. Whatever the actual numbers are, it is true that there really are a lot of vending machines here.
The number and variety of machines have noticeably decreased in the years I’ve lived here. Long ago, alcohol sales - distilled and brewed - were permitted in convenience stores, which led to the immediate removal of alcohol vending machines from the streets. (It used to be a thing among tourists, to photograph themselves drinking a beer or whiskey from a vending machine on the street. Not anymore.) It’s been a very, very long time since I’ve seen pornographic magazine and comic book vending machines, or battery-selling machines, or women’s underwear machines. With the evolution of tobacco consciousness, cigarette machines have diminished.
But one of the biggest changes over time is the dimensions of the machines themselves. Standing on sidewalks, they used to stick out dangerously into public space. The response was to redesign vending machines to be slimmer and taller than the old refrigerator-sized contraptions. Today, they don’t stick out so much into the pedestrian walking space.
Another common type of vending machine is the capsule toy machine called a “Gacha.” I often see banks of them in commuter stations, and once or twice I’ve even seen entire shops dedicated to them.
Still another type of machine is the ticket vending machines outside of restaurants. The machines show a visual menu of the offered food. The customer buys a ticket corresponding to the food they want and presents the ticket to the cook or counter staff inside the shop.
I wonder why there is this propensity for machines? It’s very Japanese.