28th November 2021
If you enjoy using vending machines you will be busy if you visit Japan. Japan has the most vending machines per person* in the world. For less than every fifty people there is a vending machine.
What are the reasons for this?
There is very little vandalism1. Things in public are rarely vandalised, so the drinks remain safe.
Convenience. People in Japan like to get things quickly and machines help that process.
Regulations2 are not so strict3 regarding the negative visual impact of things in public places. You can see vending machines everywhere – deep in the countryside, in front of historical buildings, as well as next to many offices and public buildings.
The most common vending machines are ones selling drinks. These machines are refilled very often, so you will be unlucky if you find one empty. If you look at the machines being refilled you will likely mostly see teas or coffees being put into the machines because these are the most common drinks in vending machines. The teas are usually in PET** bottles. These teas in the PET bottles are usually green teas or barley teas. The barley tea is called 麦茶 (mugicha) in Japanese.
You will see a lot of teas but you will not see many carbonated*** drinks.
The coffees and the black teas or milk teas are usually in cans. Japan invented canned coffee. Canned tea too maybe? These canned drinks show another feature of things in Japan – they are small. Many coffee cans are about 190 ml (milimetres) in size and fit easily into a pocket or bag. Again convenience is important.
Most of the drinks are kept cold in the summer and hot in the winter and you pay using a smart card or cash. The smart cards in Japan are prepaid transport cards – Pasmo or Suica.
The last thing to say is that there are sometimes limited edition products. For example, there is a product called おしるこ (oshiruko) which is a kind of hot canned soup sold around New Year. If you’re reading this in December in Japan you might find one outside on the street later today. And if you’re reading this in summer, you could go looking for a drink limited4 to summer.
*’per person’ = per head of population
**’PET bottle’ = plastic bottle. PET bottle is English but many English speakers don’t undertand the meaning of it, so saying ‘plastic bottle’ is sometimes better.
***’carbonated drink’ is British English. In American English it is called ‘soda’ or ‘pop’, in Canada a ‘carbonated soft drink’ and in Australia a ‘soft drink’. This depends on people though, so if you are unsure you should ask someone!
- vandalisim / to ‘vandalise’ / a ‘vandal’
<Example sentences>
■ There is a lot of vandalisim in that city.
■ That dog likes to vandalise my chair!
■ Vandals broke the mirror on her car.
2. regulation / to ‘regulate’
<Example sentences>
■ There are almost no regulations on building in this area.
■ You have to follow the health regulations and wear a helmet at work.
■ Governments of the world need to regulate some industries to stop global warming.
5. to ‘limit’ / limited
<Example sentences>
■ During the Covid outbreak museums limited the number of people who could enter the museum at one time.
■ This special offer is limited to June. You should buy the jacket now!
■ Do you ever buy drinks from vending machines?
■ Can you pay by smart card or do you need to pay by cash?
■ Do vending machines only sell drinks?
■ Have you ever tried canned tea or coffee?
■ Do you have vending machines in your country?
■ The vending machines have one or two things limited to particular seasons. For example ～.