If you have traveled in Japan, you have probably felt this at least once.
There are unusually many vending machines in Japan.
So for drinks, you often end up buying them from vending machines rather than convenience stores.
Ah, I mostly drink barley tea.
Plain water feels too bland, and while green tea is the most common in Japan and has a nice bitter taste,
I get tired of it quickly and can’t drink much of it.
Maybe it’s because I also boil barley tea at home.
Barley tea is easy to drink in large amounts,
so when I need to quench my thirst during a trip, barley tea is always the best.
This was before COVID, and back when I used to smoke,
so it’s quite an old story.
If there was no convenience store nearby,
it was impossible to buy cigarettes late at night.
Especially for foreigners.
At cigarette vending machines in Japan,
you had to use an adult verification card called TASPO
to confirm that you were an adult before making a purchase.
Recently, I heard that TASPO is no longer used,
and the system is changing to verification using IDs like a driver’s license or My Number card.
Also, cigarette vending machines themselves are gradually disappearing.
Anyway, the fact remains the same that foreigners cannot buy them.
You couldn’t get a TASPO card before,
and you won’t be able to get the new verification IDs either.
So whenever I wanted to buy cigarettes,
I had to go to a convenience store.
I’ve quit smoking now,
but sometimes I miss those days in Japan
when we would all smoke together while drinking.
Even in busy shopping streets,
when it gets late, shops close and darkness falls over the streets.
Quiet residential areas feel like they get dark even earlier.
And when the streets are completely dark
and become so quiet that you can hardly find anyone,
the vending machines are still there, shining brightly.
On this trip,
I didn’t really see many “people on the street.”
Maybe that’s why.
I ended up taking a lot of photos of vending machines.
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