Explore everyday life in Japan
Vending machines are literally everywhere in Japan, and they sell all sorts of things: from juice to beer, hot food to ice cream, cigarettes to mystery drinks (Drink options where you put money in the vending machine and you don’t know what kind of drink will come out). To visitors, the amount of vending machines on this small archipelago is generally thought to border on absurd. With convenience stores, bakeries, fast-food restaurants, and food shops on almost every street and corner of town and city centers, why is there such a need for vending machines in Japan?
My guess may not be correct, but this is what I think is an underlying reason for Japan’s vending machine phenomenon.
Two words that I have seen and heard often while living in Japan that I feel describe Japanese society very well are Ganbaru and Gaman. Both words pertain to the idea of overcoming difficulty, of persevering, of fighting against challenges and urges, but Ganbaru is a word that is used for describing effort. Through one’s effort and with great will and exertion, one can overcome anything, or at least, a person can try his hardest to do so and can inspire the people around him with his effort. Many people would say Ganbaru is similar to having a fighting spirit or to giving something one’s all. Gaman, on the other hand, is more about suppressing and holding in one’s emotions and desires. It is a word that describes an inevitable byproduct of living in a society that emphasizes harmony and group participation—accepting the fact that you won’t always get what you want. When I think of Gaman, the expression Grin and bear it comes to mind.
Maybe you are wondering what words like Ganbaru and Gaman have to do with vending machines. Well, in a culture where working one hundred hours or more of unpaid overtime per month is not unusual, and where every summer a few junior high and high school students across the country die from excessive school sports training in late-summer heat, in a country where stress-related suicide is common and working oneself to death is a thing, the little things, like the convenience of vending machines, having a cold drink of your choice when you want one, grabbing an energy drink or a coffee when you need a pick-me-up, being able to have a hot drink in the winter while waiting for a bus or a cool ice cream bar in the summer when walking down the street, can make a big difference. When one is feeling exhausted and vulnerable, when one is living his life at full-speed all the time, sometimes not having to fight (Ganbaru) or hold in one's desires (Gaman), even if it's only for a second can be just what a person needs.
In short, I think the abundance of vending machines in Japan is, in some ways, a reaction to the extreme demands that Japanese culture and society place on Japanese people.
This is an ongoing series that will explore various aspects of daily life in Japan. My hope is that this series will not only reveal to its followers, image by image, what Japan looks like, but that it will also inform its followers about unique Japanese items and various cultural and societal practices. If you are interested in getting regular updates about life in Japan, please consider following me at @boxcarblue. If you have any questions about life in Japan, please don’t hesitate to ask. I will do my best to answer all of your questions.