odd little details

[scott]

Just thought it'd be good to have a thread for those occasional "what the...?!?" details.

I'll start: Egg Vending Machine!   (Actually, this is a pretty cool idea.)

Edit: It has a sign, too.

[KenS]

Now I really have seen everything.  I knew Japan had a lot of vending machines, but eggs?

I guess the vending machines fill part of the role that we'd normally use a neighborhood store for, compensating for the smaller amount of space available for such stores in Japan (and the less-mobile culture, which probably creates a need for more points of sale; I think nothing of driving five miles to a store, but if your choices are walk, bicycle, bus or train there's value to something closer).

[cteno4]

scott,

fab find! nice addition to my vending machine collection!

thanks

jeff

[keitaro]

http://www.toxel.com/tech/2009/06/08/14-cool-vending-machines-from-japan/

nuff said

[KenS]

A UFO Catcher game for live lobsters?  I almost died laughing.

Then I discovered we have them here in the states.  I guess the Japanese don't have a monopoly on odd vending machines.

[cteno4]

question is does the claw (or should i say "THE CLAWWWWW......") drop the lobster into a pot of boiling water then you get a lobster dinner with drawn butter popping out the other side of the game?! i mean how many folks are going to be ready to walk home with a live lobster under their arm?!

actually THE CLAW and the aliens are my favorite part of toy story! i have a whole army of little squishy BK aliens...

cheers

jeff

[scott]

It's good that I don't like lobster, since I find the whole dropping-them-into-boiling-water thing incredibly disturbing.

But there are definitely times when a beer-vending machine would come in handy.

[marknewton]

Yes, it would be handy, but I don't think there's enough room in my kitchen to install one. Have to go in the lounge room I suppose - saves on walking.

Cheers,

Mark.

[rankodd]

The beer vending machines I saw when I was over their sold everything from cans to 2 litre kegs.

[bill937ca]

question is does the claw (or should i say "THE CLAWWWWW......") drop the lobster into a pot of boiling water then you get a lobster dinner with drawn butter popping out the other side of the game?! i mean how many folks are going to be ready to walk home with a live lobster under their arm?!

There must be people that do want live lobsters.  You can buy them at my supermarket and I've been there when they ask for them live.

[cteno4]

There must be people that do want live lobsters.  You can buy them at my supermarket and I've been there when they ask for them live.

yeah, but on the street corner?!

jeff

[marknewton]

The beer vending machines I saw when I was over their sold everything from cans to 2 litre kegs.

Drool.  

What brand of beer did they sell?

Cheers,

Mark.

[marknewton]

yeah, but on the street corner?!

My thoughts exactly. It's bad enough struggling home laden down with bags of shopping, without having an angry crustacean trying to claw it's way to freedom to deal with, as well...

Cheers,

Mark.

[Shashinka]

I guess, I'm the only one not amused or excited over seeing these. Ever since I started to see soda machines here in Maryland that sell live bait, it's going to take a lot more than eggs in an automat to get me worked up.

[CaptOblivious]

I guess, I'm the only one not amused or excited over seeing these. Ever since I started to see soda machines here in Maryland that sell live bait, it's going to take a lot more than eggs in an automat to get me worked up.

How about some line and a pole to go with that bait?

http://www.photomann.com/japan/machines/ (about 1/3 of the way down)

[scott]

I guess, I'm the only one not amused or excited over seeing these. Ever since I started to see soda machines here in Maryland that sell live bait, it's going to take a lot more than eggs in an automat to get me worked up.

[rankodd]

I, unfortunately, didn't get a photo of the Used Panty machine I saw in Akihabara when I was there. Would that be a... thing to add to a layout :P

[cteno4]

if you cant go on the bbq train then this is your other option...

jeff

http://kevinsbbqjoints.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/bbqvend.jpg

[rankodd]

The beer vending machines I saw when I was over their sold everything from cans to 2 litre kegs.

Drool.  

What brand of beer did they sell?

Cheers,

Mark.

I *think* it was Sapporo, but it was quite a while ago. I didn't have any interest in modelling the place back then, so those kind of details slipped by me :(

[cteno4]

the beer vending machines have all the popular brands, asahi, kirin, sapporo. i also think i remember having taken a picture of a whisky vending machine back in my 1984 trip, but those picts are all in a box in the basement somewhere unfortunately.

cheers

jeff

[spacecadet]

the beer vending machines have all the popular brands, asahi, kirin, sapporo.

It can depend on the company that owns the vending machine... there are actually three or four different vending machine providers in Japan.  There may be some smaller ones too but those big 3 or 4 manage the vast majority of vending machines.  I don't remember them all now, but one or two of them are owned directly by liquor makers... I think one of them is actually Suntory.  (I think it even says this on their machines, if I remember right... but the other machines don't display their owner/administrator company names.)  The Suntory ones either only have Suntory products or at least heavily favor them (and their various partners, like Pepsi) - this is probably the whiskey machine you saw too.  I don't think I've seen a dedicated whiskey machine but I have seen Suntory machines that have both Suntory beer and Suntory whiskey in them.

If you walk around and note the design and content differences between different drink machines, you can pretty quickly identify what machines are owned by who.  (They're not all drink manufacturers, so some of them do have more of a mix, but you can still identify from the machine itself that the same company owns machine A and B in different locations.)

I honestly don't remember why I know this... I think my wife and I might have been looking into actually buying a Japanese vending machine for our store at one point.

[cteno4]

ok for your more rural towns a rice polishing vending machine!

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheJapanChannelDcom#p/u/30/GlY8FLIOkmU

also batteries

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheJapanChannelDcom#p/search/6/wxK72SB_0wk

healthy smoking!

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheJapanChannelDcom#p/search/4/mylPwFd9C8k

lonely ones...

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheJapanChannelDcom#p/search/8/GgeK3n2RVnQ

eggs...

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheJapanChannelDcom#p/search/24/PdkVwHPWgIc

the claw games! never seen these directly on the street, usually just inside the entry ways or in game shops. perhaps its a legal thing as a gambling machine cant be on the street? they would be fun to model and light up!

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheJapanChannelDcom#p/search/12/bXwl4tk1kVw

and of course dinner!

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheJapanChannelDcom#p/search/0/iMtLNNDTCqc

cheers,

jeff

[westfalen]

Here's a couple of unusually decorated ones I saw last year in Ōhara and Matsuyama.

[cteno4]

thats funny they made that one into a chameleon! usually they try and make them stand out to be found!

thanks

jeff

[scott]

Interesting phone booth in Karuizawa:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aquaring/4838018030/

[cteno4]

Japanese manhole covers

http://magazeta.com/downloads/Japanese-Manhole-Covers.pdf

Cheers

Jeff

[westfalen]

For a couple of days on my recent trip I seemed obsessed with the cages you put your garbage in to stop the crows getting at it.

[Martijn Meerts]

Would be nice to have a vending machine dispensing N-scale vending machines ;)

[cteno4]

For a couple of days on my recent trip I seemed obsessed with the cages you put your garbage in to stop the crows getting at it.

westfalen,

cool, thanks mucho, i had a description of how the cages and recycle bins were arranged like this in yards and streets from matthew and his 2 years in iwate, but no pictures! ive a couple of sets of the prohobby ones ive built, but from your photos ill have to try and scratch build up some other looking ones! wonderful detail shots. always appreciated as these are the kinds of things that really add some reality and novelty to a scene and stop it looking just like all the rest of the layout scenes!

jeff

[cteno4]

Would be nice to have a vending machine dispensing N-scale vending machines ;)

down the rabbit hole! curt did make an n scale jrm layout along with the tent for a future festival scene on his plaza! he stopped at making the cowboy hat for me, but i promised to make him a 6' scale goji to put on the tent.

http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,3749.msg37700.html#msg37700

jeff