I’ve been wondering what could be a big difference or looking weird thing to the foreigners who newly come to Japan while writing blog post 1 to 4 then Japanese vending machines fulfilled my question. On a trip to Melbourne this summer, it was bit strange and inconvenient for me that few of them were on the street because I couldn’t get what I wanted at the moment when I needed as like doing in Japan. This was just the case in Melbourne, though there could be no doubt in that other countries don’t have more vending machines than Japan does.
These were taken in Gaidai.
However, even for me, Japan is crazy about the quality and quantity of vending machine, which makes me wonder, like “Are they really such needed?” I know Japanese always keep seeking conveniences in everything, but it’s too much. Just only in Gaidai, you probably find ten or more.
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This probably is a car vending machine!!
“Gaizin” would be amazed at not only the number of them, but the variety of them. The one in my town started talking when I inserted coins into it, like “まいどー”meaning “hello” or “釣銭忘れんといてや!” meaning “Don’t leave your changes”. In other case, you can get almost every stuff including soup, “Oden”, “Ramen”, Junk food, alcohol, or cigarette. These are usual for us Japanese, but sometimes I get the feeling of suspicion about the necessity for such quality. To be back to my basic question, we won’t be puzzled just only with “コンビニ”, but for business men rushing to work place and needing a hot coffee in a morning, the existence of bending machine everywhere may help them get refreshed and do the best that day.
Vending machines are an interesting topic for your visual anthropology blog. There has been a lot written about the subject by my students and in newspaper articles, etc. Your post would be stronger with some research to see what has been written before and what you could offer that it different or new.
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