Some Things Are So Different

I can remember vividly my first trip to Japan in December of 1994.  I was so excited to be visiting, and felt very privileged professionally.  With sleep always being difficult to accomplish successfully on any international trip, I went out for early morning walks on each day there, with my eyes wide open, and on the look out for any signs of the differences between our cultures.  During one walk, I was stopped cold in my tracks when I came across a vending machine in Tokyo that was out on the street that only sold beer.  The photo below was actually that machine, taken in 1994.  

Then I noticed that these machines were all over the place, outside on almost every street it seemed.  Wow.  I was shocked!  There was absolutely no way you could do this in the U.S. I immediately thought.  The kids would raid the machines every day/night, and there would never be any beer in them!  This was my first indication of the discipline that exists within the Japanese culture.  For the most part, the kids left these machines alone, for they knew it was not  legal to use them.  Then on a subsequent trip a few years later, I took this shot of another machine.  The amazing thing about this mechanical bartender, was that it dispensed not only beer, which could be procured in impressive 5,000 gallon jugs, but whiskey too!!!  Oh boy I thought, now that is just an incredible sight.

So this small little thing really struck me on those early trips.  However I will tell you that through the following years these machines slowly started to disappear (or were moved inside of the shops).  Now I believe they are all gone (although maybe they can still be found in the countryside?), an unfortunate sign of an erosion of that discipline that is happening in the country.  I think I purchased a beer from one of these machines once, just for the novelty of it.  It is too bad they are all gone!!!