Tokyo, as well as the rest of Japan, is famous for its vending machines, both the number of them as well as what they dispense. There are of course machines that sell cold and hot drinks, everything from green tea and iced coffee to hot coffee and hot tea, as well as water, soft drinks, and juices. Pretty much everywhere you look you will find some sort of vending machine. There are so many that when Tokyo was facing rolling blackouts after the March 11, 2011 earthquake knocked out much of the electric supply for the region, then Tokyo Governor Ishihara made a speech condemning the huge number of vending machines for wasting electricity. He also complained about pachinko parlors for the same reason.
Not only are there many, many vending machines, there are also quite a few dispensing unusual items. Here is the start of a list I have been making of some of the vending machines that have caught my eye for what they are selling.
Sriracha. Named after the town in Thailand where this hot sauce was first made from chili peppers, vinegar, garlic, sugar and salt, this condiment can now be purchased from vending machines located throughout Tokyo as well as in much of the rest of the country, especially in larger cities. The variety sold here is Sriracha Japan brand.
I first saw one of these in Kuramae a few years ago. It attracted my attention because I have never seen it for sale in stores. That machine has since moved, driven out when the parking lot it sat in was finally turned into a construction site. A new one (or maybe the same one?) showed up a year ago or sold behind the Meijiza theater in Hamachōclose to where I live. I haven’t bought any from the machine as I have a different bottle I picked up at Tokyo Food-X a couple of years ago.
Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice. I cam across one in the former Tsukiji outer market and another in Kyoto that cost only ¥350.
Macaroons. Early into the first day of walking the old Nakasendō road I came across a machine selling macaroons across the road from the main entrance to Tōdai University in Honcho.
I’m not sure about vending machines in the US these days, but when I was a kid there were probably more machines dispensing snack foods and candy bars than there were beverage machines.
Bread. In Kyoto, on Sanjō dori just off of Karasumi dori I spotted a vending machine loaded with various breads. It actually looked pretty good.
Macha. I came across this on the grounds of Sensōji temple in Asakusa. Small PET bottles of macha tea. No wonder there is a shortage of macha these days!
Ice Cream. Ice cream vending machines are pretty common and not worth mentioning. However, one a spotted in Kyoto is worthy of note, a machine that is stocked with Baskin Robins 31 Flavors ice cream. But it only offered offered eight flavors, not thirty-one. Another machine in Hamachō I found offered vanilla soft cream as well as daigaku imo (fried or baked sweet potatoes covered in a honey-sweetened sauce that are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside).
Frozen Ramen and Gyoza
While recently down on the island of Yakushima during Golden Week I spotted a vending machine outside of a ramen restaurant near the town of Onoaida that was stocked with frozen ramen and gyōza. Just ¥600 for Kyushu pork ramen, and either ¥600 or ¥700 for shōyu pork ramen, shio (salt) pork ramen, tantan mein ramen, or gyōza.
Monja and Kujira (Whale)
A food writer friend was recently in Tokyo after visiting Macao, and one of the things he really wanted to eat was okonomiyaki. And what better place to do that than Tsukishimia and its monja-yaki dori, a street with close to 100 restaurants serving both okonomiyaki and monja-yaki. After trying some of both at a few restaurants we came across two machines with frozen monja, each with eleven choices. The monja was actually ingredients for monja, the photos showing neatly arranged cups full of pork, fish, and vegetable monja. And nearby was another with fresh squeezed orange juice, this one costing just ¥350 a cup.
While vending machine monja was a first for me, it wasn’t out of place in the Tsukushima neighborhood. But around the corner from the monja machines was something even more surprising; vending machines selling Kujira, or whale meat. One machine had a variety of canned whale meat, mostly in sets of two or three cans, as well as whale curry (written in English) for only ¥1,000 for 200 grams, rice not included.
Another machine had a selection of frozen whale meat, including blubber (plain and deep fried), tail meat, and whale steak. The machine also had a diagram of what part of the whale the different cuts came from, plus a description of the cut.
My friend bought two cans of whale meat but then decided it was too risky to take it back to the US where it is illegal. So he left it at his hotel.