Street Vending Machines
The streets of Japan are covered with vending machines. You will find a can of coke or a packet of cigarettes literally anywhere, even up the slopes of Mount Fuji. The machines do not suffer the vandalism that they do in our home countries.
The price for a canned beverage is 120 yen. That is the same price as a can purchased at a convenience store. Depending on the season you can also select a hot or cold drink. Some machines stock pet bottles. These range in price from 150 yen.
Liquor such as canned beer can be purchased at vending machines too. However to monitor minors buying alcohol the machines have operating restrictions. As with cigarettes, liquor vending machines are out of operation at 23:00pm until the next morning. I guess that sounds strange to us because this isnft much of a deterrent, but you do not see minors purchasing alcohol here. The legal drinking age in Japan is 20 years of age.
10, 50, and 100 yen coins are the preferred means of payment. Recently new 500 yen coins have been released and whilst some machines have been converted others will reject either the new or the old coins. Also many of the vending machines give change for a 1000 yen note but that is the biggest denomination.
