Got milk?

Chock full of calcium and essential to your everyday diet and can also be found in a vending machine.

Told you so

So you may be familiar with the Japanese beer, Kirin. This is not a post on that. That being said Kirin also produces a plethora of vending machines in their name. For anyone who does not know what Kirin means in Japan, it means giraffe. And with that being said here is what I tend to imagine every time I see a Kirin vending machine.

 How it really is:

The drink machines are typically priced at 100-150 yen per beverage for such things as coffees, teas, juices, colas and energy drinks. But there are special 100 yen machines that sell the off brand or smaller versions of the typical 20 ounce. Just so you know that 100 yen is still over a dollar, but this is seen as reasonably priced in Japan.

bank of a bunch of different machines.
Looks like mostly beverages and cigs

You can pretty much find these guys everywhere...and ANYwhere. I hiked up Atagoyama back in May, and yup there one was...at the top. Of course drinks were 200 yen more at the top for those thirsty hikers who finished off their water supplies. It is said that there is one vending machine for every 23 people in Japan. It is my own theory that there are practically no water fountains in Japan in order for the vending companies to gain a bigger profit. Very opposite from Korea, where there is a free water cooler in every building you enter. The reason why there are so many vending machines is that the land owner gets a cut of the profit that the machine produces. How it works is they just call up their favorite vending machine company and have them install a machine on their property and then they pay for the electricity and get a cut of the profits. It is a simple and easy way to get money without working which is why there are so many of them all over Japan.

ANYwhere

In addition to finding them in any place, they vend an extremely large variety of stuff. Now people say that you can find anything in these machines: soda, cigarette, octopus, action figures, women's underwear. Personally I have only ever seen cigarettes and soda come out of most these things, though I have seen an occasional flower or camera film/disposable camera vending machine, ice cream vending machines are easy to find at parks on hot days, and of course the beer ones are common enough. This is not to say that women's panties vending machines do not exist, I would not be surprised to see on the shadier streets of Tokyo ones that vend women's panties.
What I DO find special about these machines is that they vend hot drinks. And sometimes hot and cold drinks, meaning that there is a heating and a cooling system side by side in the same machine. You might be thinking why would I want a hot cola, but don't think along the lines of cola, think more like coffee and hot chocolate. In the winter and your hands are freezing I find these machine invaluable hand warmers as well as a source of delicious beverage.

the top row is the hot beverages in red
everything in blue is cold

one more for you