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Japanese Vending Machines at Night Juxtaposed with a Wintry
Hokkaido Landscape
158 points by DamonHD
http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2017/10/04/japanese-vending-machines...-machines-at-night-juxtaposed-with-a-wintry-hokkaido-landscape/___________________________________________________________________
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dllu - 2 hours ago
Some vending machines in Japan are designed to give out free drinks
during an emergency [0]. That could be one of the reasons why there
are so many well-maintained vending machines everywhere, even in
remote areas.[0] http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/16-things-
you-didnt-...
krapp - 23 minutes ago
When the story about the Bodega startup[0] came out, it occurred to
me that what they were trying to do was essentially what Japan is
already doing with vending machines - automate retail at scale.
Unfortunately, Bodega tried to undermine, transform and rebrand the
local culture in a way that many found offensive, but that aside, I
wonder what particular cultural elements make vending machines seem
so successful in Japan, but not as much in the US?Maybe Amazon
could bring back Automats[1]?[0]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?i
d=15291795[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automat
ISL - 2 hours ago
Getting a hot chocolate out of a vending machine while the sky is
dumping snow is one of life's many sublime pleasures.
saryant - 1 hours ago
After the Fukushima earthquake I was walking from Ebisu to
Roppongi (all the subways were shuttered). A cold evening and I
wasn't properly dressed.Then I turned the corner and saw a
machine with Tommy Lee Jones' staring down selling hot cans of
Boss Coffee. Made the night a little easier.
DamonHD - 2 hours ago
Getting a painfully hot can of sake out of a street vending
machine was an interesting experience for me, albeit in
Tokyo.Seeing my ryokan vending machine stock some mixture of
underwear, shoes, toiletries and just possibly food (that may
have been a separate machine), also!
tinix - 2 hours ago
Why is this even posted here? It doesn't seem even remotely
relevant to Hacker News.
netrap - 2 hours ago
I find vending machines interesting. I think it does apply to the
general feel here. I'd love to see the internals more often
though!
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lovemenot - 49 minutes ago
Fuji Electric is market leader in Japan. FE is also #1 vending
machine vendor in China, where their revenues are already on a
par with their domestic market.Top of the range products
feature large digital signage on the front. Also, body-shape /
gait recognition (age / gender categorisation).
ekglimmer - 2 hours ago
Because it is 'deeply interesting'
gm-conspiracy - 1 hours ago
Cool photos of machines.Photos of other cultures.Provokes
discourse.
ct0 - 2 hours ago
Because culture.
HillaryBriss - 2 hours ago
impressive durability: some of these vending machines are
friggin' snow-proof -- and they still keep the drinks warm.
slagfart - 2 minutes ago
Also, on snowy days, even the 'cold' contents are heated (from
below freezing to just above)
starshadowx2 - 2 hours ago
Is there even a "relevant to Hacker News"? I've always seen it as
things that people find interesting. If you don't like it then
downvoting is an option if you're able
to.https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html"If you had to
reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that
gratifies one's intellectual curiosity"
emodendroket - 2 hours ago
Hokkaido is a great place.
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montecarl - 1 hours ago
For even more photos from this set see the photographers site:
https://www.sapporo-creation.com/existence
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komali2 - 2 hours ago
Those Japanese vending machines blow my mind. I got lost on takao
mountain once and was utterly hopeless of ever finding civilization
again. I found abandoned and rotting tractors the forest had taken
back, weird half completed concrete structures, the trail was gone,
I was well and truly lost. Then, I turn a corner, and find a
goddamned vending machine. Powered. With stock.I followed its power
cord back for a solid ten minutes before I found the little
building on a trail it led to.Somebody restocked that vending
machine. Somebody installed it.It's like this throughout Japan.
Boggles the mind.
StavrosK - 55 minutes ago
Wait wait wait, so that photo of the vending machine in the
middle of nowhere isn't a set up by the photographer? I thought
he put the machine there, along with a generator behind it, just
to take the photo!
graedus - 1 hours ago
Really interesting. There are a few scenes like this in the
excellent art film Homo Sapiens[0][1] that stuck with me.
Overgrown Japanese landscape with vending machines (don't
remember if these were actually powered though).[0]
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5450084/[1]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEgjEzB36Lo
skeltoac - 1 hours ago
Are there still machines selling cans of beer? That was one of the
highlights of my visit to Tokyo. My host advised me that I must
either stand at the machine and drink it or put it away while I
walked. No drinking and walking.I was 14.
wodenokoto - 1 hours ago
Not in Tokyo anymore, but they do have them around Kansai still.
jamesjyu - 1 hours ago
Wait, really? I thought there were copious alcohol in Tokyo
vending machines, at least the last time I visited.
deeth_starr_v - 1 hours ago
My hotel had beer in the vending machine on my floor. This was
Tokyo last year. This was not a public vending machine though.
wakeless - 39 minutes ago
Beer isn't in 'publicly' accessible vending machines any more as
far as I can tell. It is however often available in the foyer of
a place that normally sells beer (that might be currently
shut.)Ski resorts are my main source of vending-machine beer.
Nothing better than cracking a can of Sapporo Classic in your
first gondola ride of the day.
ohashi - 1 hours ago
The attitude is strange with vending machines and other cultures. I
saw a vending machine selling 20oz and 1.5l (I think?) bottles of
coke for the same price. In America, that would be unheard of, why
would anyone buy the 20oz bottle. But in Japan, it seemed like many
people just bought what they needed.
m_mueller - 1 hours ago
I'm not even Japanese and I'd buy the small can. I have no use
for 0.5l of coke, let alone 1.5l. It's supposed to make me a bit
more concentrated, not replace my water.
stephengillie - 1 hours ago
It's common for American grocery stores to sell 20 oz bottles for
+-20% of the price of 2 liter bottles. The differentiation here
is entirely in perception. The smaller bottle is usually chilled
and seems like an individual serving. The larger bottle is
considered to be a bulk purchase. Often, consumers will purchase
both in the same trip, intentionally oblivious to the value
differential.
vinhboy - 13 minutes ago
In America, when I ask for half a cup of coffee at Starbucks (no
I don't ask for a discount), because I don't want/need that much
coffee, I get weird looks.Or when I am at Taco Bell and I just
want a small cup of soda, instead of that giant cup they give, I
always get the "are you sure?"
spike021 - 2 hours ago
I'd love to visit Japan, and Hokkaido specifically. Seems like such
a nice place.
bschwindHN - 1 hours ago
While we're on the subject of Japanese vending machines, how do
they implement the IC card scanning feature? Does it need to be
connected to a special network or is the logic all done on the
card? I'm specifically talking about the payment verification and
logic. I have one in my office that accepts IC card payment and I'm
not quite sure what is required for that to work.
shidoshi - 1 hours ago
Suica, Pasmo and the like are all contactless SCs. The Wikipedia
page is a good start, and you can go deeper from there:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suica
bschwindHN - 49 minutes ago
Ah sorry, I mean how the machine verifies the validity of the
card.
eaeertae - 1 hours ago
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