What amazed us in Japan was the abundance of drink dispensers that are ultimately very convenient. Presentation:
Drink dispensers in Japan, omnipresent
Drink dispensers in Japan are everywhere, whether it is at the top of Mount Fuji, Mount Takao (forest hike), at the bottom of Fushimi Inari ( Tori hike) in your hotel or guest house, or even every 100 meters in the streets of Tokyo, one next to the other, there are some everywhere! Japanese people are very fond of this kind of service, available 24 hours a day, like the combini (local supermarket), fast and cheap: 100/150 yen depending on the vending machines. Moreover, the vending machines are not vandalized and propose fresh drinks, ideal in summer in Japan, hot or warmed up at the right temperature! You will find coffee, still water, carbonated water, energy drinks, green tea, sodas, collectors drinks… Here is a non-exhaustive list:
Drinks in vending machines
The most popular and recurring:
Pocari Sweat “THE” drink to sober up
Calpis A drink that tastes like “yogurt?” We’re not fans of it at all. But others on the contrary love it!
C.C Lemon A vitamin and lemon drink Particularly pleasant. Sometimes with yuzu and also comes in a “ZERO” version.
Sodas, fruit juices
Minute Maid Grape, grapefruit flavored, yuzu
Salt Fruit A delicious sweet and salty drink (here with lychee).
Recurring flavors include lemon, grape, peach and cherry. There are also the classic sodas like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Seven Up, Dr Pepper, Orangina…
Mineral and flavored water
Energy drinks
Collector and original drinks
Ramune Lemonade A Japanese lemonade with a marble inside
You’ll notice that there are a lot of boosting drinks, with vitamin, caffeine, theine and still here you have only a small glimpse… It gives a real boost! We have tasted most of the drinks and to be honest, there are many that taste very chemical like Fanta grape or lifegard to name a few. Coffee and energy drinks are much more dosed than those in France. Not all drink distributors offer the same thing, it’s fun to see new drinks, even collectors. You can pay in cash, with your Suica or Passmo card. There is an intelligent vending machine in Tokyo in the hall of Shinagawa station: it recognizes your morphology, takes into account the time of the day, the outside temperature, to propose you several adapted drinks. It is a great success, sometimes there is even a queue!