kenleewrites in 日本

The only thing that is more convenient than a convenient store in Japan is the vending machine. Pretty soon you’ll also have something to turn to when you are in distress. So. Let’s talk a little about vending machines in Japan. For starters, they are everywhere in metropolitan Tokyo. In front of buildings, behind buildings, around buildings, in alleyways, underground, above ground etc; you’re never far from any one vending machine… which is a good thing, since we all get thirsty at some point in our lives. When seasons change, so do the temperatures of canned coffees. You get hot coffee in winter and cold coffee in summer. Neat. The only thing that these thirst-quenching oases can’t seem to do is replenishing their supplies during events (that and giving you drinks for free).

At wonfes earlier this year, all I saw was “sold out” (売切) in small bright red. At the Yagami Campus Festival recently, it was pretty much the same thing. I thought these machines are supposed to be smart enough to phone home with “Please fill me up! Someone is dying of thirst here!”, and a responsible supplier (what do you call those guys?) will suddenly pop up in the corner and start filling the machine up. Anyway, I walk by at least 5 vending machines during my daily 30 minutes commute. That’s like… 1 vending machines every 6 minutes. You can get higher ratios downtown.

I found out something horrible. Vending machines aren’t immune to inflation! Now so long ago, the standard price of PET bottles and canned coffee were ¥140 and ¥110 respectively. Now they go for ¥150 and ¥120.

That’s about a 7~9% increase; Japan’s current inflation rate is about 2%. I guess I shouldn’t complain. It would be even worse if vending machines started returning change with a couple of ¥1 mixed in. My wallet’s on a ¥1 coin-free diet. My ¥1 coins go into the first donation box I see. Convenient stores are great because they have a donation box right next to the cashier.

There are some vending machines that still sell drinks at the usual prices.

Some more, although rare, that sell drinks slightly cheaper.

A friend once told me, “Before convenience stores and vending machines, living in Japan must have been very inconvenient”.

I went, “…”

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