The Place with the Greatest Number of Vending Machines in Japan

Thursday, February 20, 2014

The Place with the Greatest Number of Vending Machines in Japan

Today, I uploaded my Youtube video which is about Japanese Vending machines. When my husband and I were visiting in Japan in 2013, I found these vending machines.
Most of foreigners who are traveling or living in Japan are surprised about Japanese vending machines because those are found everywhere in Japan and sell so many different kinds of products. Yet, vending machines are nothing special for me because I grew up in Japan. However, when I found these vending machines in Japan in 2013, I was very surprised because I had never seen so many vending machine at one place before!!! I don't remember exactly where these were, but I think these were probably in Oita prefecture. These were placed beside the roadside station, which is called Michinoeki, which is a rest area along roads in Japan. The Michinoeki was closed at that time because of New Year's Day, so there was no customer. I was able to take as many pictures as I wanted without shame. :)

Some countries might have problem with placing vending machines outside at night because it is possible that someone may steals them. However, Japan is one of safest countries in the world, so it is usually not a problem to place them outside even though the street is empty at night. That's why I think Japan has so many vending machines. It saves labor cost and very convenient for everyone. According to Wikipedia, "Japan has the highest number of vending machines per capita, with about one machine for every twenty-three people".
When I was a child, my parents sometimes let my sister and me go and buy a bottle juice from a vending machine. (Unlike U.S., children in Japan may go out freely without adult.) We were very excited because there were so many we could choose from. My favorite ones were UCC coffee and orange juice. It's because I couldn't drink soda yet. I didn't like its carbonation because it's too strong for children. My mother always asked me to purchase Oronamin C for her at that time.