Assuming you cannot read Japanese or haven't taken a moment to scrutize the picture from a vending machine shown above, I'd like you to take a moment to guess at what is being sold in these cans. All of these feature Mt. Fuji at different points in time - in winter, in spring with cherry blossoms, and the last one says, "diamond Fuji" which I imagine is the sun over Fuji in summer? What cannot item do you think fits the motif?
The truth is that I'm not sure what sort of canned food fits these scenes, but I wouldn't have guessed that it would be what it turned out to be. These cans are full of bread. From left to right is adzuki (red bean) bread, plain bread, and then coffee bread. I guess that, if you climb Mt. Fuji, you might benefit from a canned carb boost. That would make more sense if this picture was taken on the ascent up that mountain, but this machine was nowhere near it. It was in Tokyo in Kichijoji's Inokashira park. Perhaps the bread was made from something on Mt. Fuji, but I doubt it. My guess is that it's just a tourist thing. Any thoughts?
As my readers may know, I rarely use a picture which is not my own as a "random picture", but this comes courtesy of Coca-Cola Japan. No, this is not a "funky vending machine", but rather an ingeniously modified machine placed in front of a shop in Shibamata, Tokyo. I don't know if this was inspired in any way by the fact that Shibamata is located in Katsushika, a place which hosts the home of the headquarters of toy manufacturer Tomy.
Though much of this modification is done above and beside the machine, some of it is in front and, in theory, could impede access to the machine because of the way the blocky "feet" stick out. I couldn't help but wonder if such a modification in the U.S. might cause some consternation and a demand to return it to its former state. I thought it was cool that Coca-cola Japan displayed this picture rather than became angry about the way in which their machine had been altered.
One of the clients which my company dealt with when I was working in Japan was a maker and distributor of vending machines. Prior to the March 11, 2011 earthquake, their main concerns were maintenance, distribution, and making the machines appealing to use relative to purchasing in shops. For example, they would build in little games that would reward people for buying a drink on rare occasions. They worked on the same principle as a slot machine, only with fewer wins.
After the big quake, setsuden, or energy conservation kicked in so that the nuclear reactors could be shut down and setsucden continues to this day so they can continue to keep them out of operation. When I spoke to employees of the client that made such machines later in 2011, their main focus shifted entirely to finding ways to keep drinks in the machines cold or hot while reducing the energy use. They were worried that the number of total machines would be reduced if they didn't lower energy consumption. If you make vending machines, the last thing you want is for fewer of them to be in use.
A man puts up a sign talking about Coke's power consumption efforts.
One of the ways in which they accomplished this was by using LED lights, using better insulation and by reducing refrigeration during certain times. They rotate turning off the machine for 3 minutes during peak hours. Apparently, their attempts to reduce the energy footprint were so successful that they have been awarded the energy conservation grand prize. This may not sound like a big deal, but there are a lot of vending machines in Japan and the aggregate savings not only helps cope with the diminished capacity to supply energy, but also lowers Japan's carbon footprint. Every little bit, especially on the corporate level, counts, and they've reduced the energy their machines use by 33%. (Let us all collectively pat, Coca-cola Japan on the back for a job well done.)
Though it may seem that they have done nothing but toil on energy reduction engineering, they're continuing to try to find ways to make using the machines more fun. To that end, Coca-Cola Japan has introduced an AR "apply" (app) that allows smart phone users to have an "augmented reality" (AR) experience with a vending machine. That would be a lot more scintillating if the vending machines were dispensing marital aids or adult materials, but what kind of AR would make using a Coke machine better?
This is a video showing some of the capability of the AR app for smartphones when used with a Coke machine. By the way, at the very end, I believe the guy holding up the hats is trying to say, "coming soon" in English, but I could be wrong. It comes across as very garbled to me.
It turns out that the bonus is that you can interact with the cute little polar bear graphic on the machine using your smart phone. If you touch him in various spots (and I know what you're thinking you perverts), he'll sneeze, giggle, etc. You can also see commercials for a few of the products stocked in the machine because, you know, you would like more chances to view advertising.
Coke makes a big to-do about choosing the polar bear image because it is a symbol for the effects of global warming. However, the polar bear has been in Coke ads since long before anyone ever started talking about climate change. Though there is a connection to melting polar ice caps, I think the real reason is that they're just so darn adorable that they're hoping you'll want to install their app so you can rub his tummy and watch him laugh.
The name of the pictured beverage sounds like it would be more appropriate for a Viking marital aid than a sports drink, and while I'm not sure that that is not what is contained as a hidden prize within the can, I doubt that it's any more than a low calorie isotonic beverage. The Japanese for this actually says "so-pi-do", so I'm not sure that they even meant to name it for the god of thunder, but I'm seeing it in the manner that most amuses me. (Note that the Japanese for "Thor" is "To-ru".)
Actually, my husband informs me that this may refer to Ian Thorpe, a Australian swimmer whose nickname was "Thorpedo". The strange thing is that this beverage came out during his retirement (he retired, returned, and failed, but will try again).
This amuses me far less than my own imagined ideas. Therefore, I will pretend not to have gained an awareness of this fact. Willful ignorance is bliss.
This vending machine caught my eye because of the rather hungry-looking can on the right. These are both "Ultraman" cans that offer up lemonade with 1% juice as part of the mix. The prices are given in red because they are discounted by 20 yen (24 cents) per can (usual price is 120 yen/$1.47). When I see things like this, I wonder what the target market is, and if that market is collectors. Would they buy these cans and keep them around forever as part of their Ultraman collection? It seems a strange thing to keep, but when I was a KISS fan, I'm sure I would have kept a can of KISS Kola (of course, it would be spelled with a "K") around until it turned into battery acid that ate through the aluminum.
There were many perfectly reasonable and innocent word combinations in Japan which, because of different cultural connotations, were funny to native speakers. These cans of jasmine tea, sold without milk or sugar, and marketed as "Asian Straight" would be fine if it weren't for the fact that it makes it sound like they are marketing heterosexuals of Asian origin. When I saw things like this, after the initial smile of amusement, I was reminded of the complexities of gaining true fluency in a language. The nuances and the fluidity of pop cultural references make it nearly impossible. It was good for a laugh, of course, but also a moment of empathy. No wonder my students never felt their English would be adequate. If a huge corporation like Kirin was tagging their products in a slightly funny way when they used English, what hope did my students with their limited resources to get their English perfect have?
During a very long walk, my husband and I came across a vending machine selling cans of mystery beverages called "Mr. X". The benefit of buying something without being certain of what you're getting is that you save a whole 10 yen (12 cents). The bad part is that you might end up with one of five different drinks, and not all of them look that good. The options are Coke, Skal (a drink I've read tastes like flat Sprite, but I've never tried), Calpis, a drink with gelatin cubes in it called "Lifeguard Bionic drink, and a fruit drink that I can't quite make out the details of from my picture.
This seems like a truly goofy concept from a consumer point of view, but I can definitely see the benefit from the vender's view. If one particular drink isn't selling well, you can load it up under these mystery tabs to sell them to people who are short on change and can't afford the price of their choice can, or for those who like to gamble with their drink options.
I liked the way this water was named, and I wish that there was actually a flavor that tasted like "relax". That'd be awesome.
I think food reviewing would be a lot more interesting (and popular) if we could flavor things with feelings or experiences. Of course, we all know what the most popular variety would be if this were possible.
If you click this image, a bigger one should load and the text on the can should be readable.
Seeing this can of "energen" on sale in a vending machine, I was heartened to learn that Japanese manufacturers can make spurious weight loss claims as freely and easily as any other country's. If you read the small print, you'll see that this is a sports drink. I have never seen it on sale anywhere but in machines, and I must say that I am singularly unimpressed by the presentation and package design. It looks like an office worker with minimal working knowledge of Microsoft Publisher cobbled it together. I am more impressed by the fact that there is so much English on the can, and that it's actually pretty accurate.
I was taking a walk around my neighborhood and perusing the drink machines, as I always do. I have found that some of the most entertaining slogans and product names tend to crop up on drinks. This time, it wasn't the name so much as the ingredients list that caught me by surprise. I didn't know that catnip was something humans ate. Either that, or I didn't know that Yakult made drinks for cats. ;-) The Wikipedia entry for catnip mentions that it is a good insect repellent for roaches and mosquitoes. Maybe this is a way to drive away the usual Tokyo summer roach infestations from the inside.
Incidentally, "Lemorea" sounds like some sort of fantasy-land where animated citrus fruit frolic or like some sort of nasty tongue fungus disease to me. I'm not sure which is scarier.
My husband caught these bottles of Jasmine tea in a vending machine. He couldn't help but make a certain connection between the English name and sexual preference. These are part of a series of very nice tea made by Kirin. The milk tea in this series is excellent, but like many bottled drinks in Japan is full of sugar and quite sweet.
Note that the price on these bottles of tea is 150 yen, which is a usual vending machine or convenience store price for 500 ml. (about 16 oz.) bottles. I rarely pay this price though since most supermarkets offer drinks at a discount relative to vending machines and "conbini".
Bottles of cola-flavored gelatin dessert are being sold in a Pokka vending machine near the end of the street I live on. I'm not sure if you're supposed to eat it with a spoon as the picture on the label indicates, or if you're supposed to drink it as the bottle shape seems to imply. Either way, I'll keep my 120 yen ($1.33).
Note that "up" is often used in Japanese English as a way of saying "increase". I have to constantly correct students who think it's correct to say "level up" or "skill up" when talking about improving their abilities.
