As I remarked in
the original post, vending machines are everywhere in Tokyo. I had also been told that, even in the countryside, banks of machines sometimes stood in the middle of nowhere. More than one Japanese person told me that they saw them as an incredible waste of energy. I wonder if, in the face of strict energy conservation after the Fukushima meltdown in the wake of the March 11, 2011 quake, such machines were removed. I know that vending machines in Tokyo were being frantically re-engineered to reduce their carbon footprint. This was something I heard firsthand from employees whose job it was to make such machines (such was the nature of my work in Japan that I had access to such people on a regular basis).
The truth is that, I think all cultures have various visual blight and wasteful energy consumption. Sometimes it is trash on the lawns of rural homes. Sometimes it's ugly newspaper distribution boxes. Sometimes it's graffiti on city streets and walls. Now, I think that banks of gleaming machines were really not such a bad thing after all. It could very much have been worse. The "worst" part of it all, in retrospect, was the valuable sidewalk real estate that they sometimes consumed in areas that sometimes were congested with heavy foot traffic. I now find that I actually regard the total suffocation of some areas with vending machines as a bit of nostalgia rather than see it as an annoyance.
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You make some good points, but I still have nostalgia for those banks of vending machines. As for urban blight...I don't mind the newspaper vending machines, but I hate that nobody cleans up around them. Stuff gets stuck between or behind them, sometimes by accident, sometimes by design, and that makes me sad.
ReplyDeleteAs for re-engineering the machines to lower the carbon footprint, that is certainly a welcome idea. I am glad that more of them will include solar pannels. Though this cannot take them off the grid completely, it is a step in the right direction, and should bring down the cost in solar panels and hopefully lead to an improvement in the technology.
In addition, the disaster has change the thinking on the role of these machines. They now can display important messages, or become free drink dispensers.
I think we often have to be realistic about technology and things like carbon footprints. We can't eschew all conveniences in the interest of not using power so we can't abandon all of them (take them off the grid, as you say). It is good though about the solar panels. I think we aren't converting fast enough, but we are perhaps moving in the right direction.
DeleteIn Japan, I imagine the people who fill the machines often clean around them. In the U.S., I think that lackeys who are paid poorly fill them and don't care about how they look. There is a certain attentiveness to such things in Japan that you don't see in the U.S. because Japanese people are turned off by "dirty" areas and won't patronize a machine which looks bad. I guess consumers here are less fussy!
Thanks for your comment!
I'm not sure if the machines were adapted before 3/11 or not, but I have seen a couple of vending machines in my city with solar panels on the top. Also, many vending machines now have the lights turn off at night. It's rather annoying when it is dark and you want to buy a drink, they don't light up even when you put money in the machine!
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, when I go back to Canada for a visit, I miss the ubiquitous vending machines! We just don't seem to have any in convenient spots.
I didn't think I'd miss the vending machines, but now, well, I do. I think a part of it was the frequently rotating selections. I rarely purchased drinks from them, but I did enjoy seeing what was on offer (and took pictures of them!).
DeleteI can understand why the lights are off and they're adding solar panels (especially with setsuden). I think the lights being off works in Tokyo because there are so many street lights, but likely doesn't work so well in other areas.
Thanks for your comment!