Teenage Girl's Pre-Worn Underwear at Vending MachineApr 29 '01 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Some say Japan is the vending machine heaven. Others say it's the vending machine hell. You will be a judge. One of the first things I found inconvenient in the US is the lack of vending machine. You see some for soda in the building and for cigarettes at bars. But compared to Japan, the variety of vending machine in the US is very small. In Japan, vending machine is everywhere, and its variety is huge. beverages Needless to say, the most popular thing sold at vending machine is drink. Usually, hot and cold selections are available. (Hot ones are very nice in winter time.) The selection is not limited to non-alcohol ones. There is vending machine for beer, Japanese sake, whiskey, sweet potato vodka, and so on. The prevailing cost for one non-alcoholic drink is 120 yen (about $1.10), and the volume is usually 350ml. Since there is no monitoring function for vending machine, there was huge discussion on under-age kids' free access to the alcoholic beverages in the early 90s. And now, the vending machine for alcoholic beverages are shut down after 23:00. So, if you want to buy beer, you should visit a liquor store. (Some liquor stores are open on 7-24 basis.) cigarette In Japan, chewing tobacco and cigars are not common at all. Instead, the cigarettes are getting more and more common. And the vending machine for cigarettes are very easy to find. Since the price of a pack of cigarette is controlled by a national law, there is no price difference unless you are at the peak of Mt. Fuji or somewhere. Cigarettes are getting pricey, but they are cheaper than in the US. Usually, the cheapest ones are about $2. As is the same as the alcoholic beverages, the cigarette vending machine is shut down after 23:00. But again, it is very easy to get cigarettes. Even though the smoking age is 20, shop owners don't care much about the law. This is because there is no severe punishments. Believe it or not, the first errands for small kids include buying a pack of cigarettes. As the matter of fact, when I was 4 years old or so, my mother asked me to go across the street to buy a pack of cigarettes for my grandfather. I don't remember if I could pick up the proper brand, but I do remember I could buy one. other products I mentioned the huge variety of vending machine, and I am not joking. The vending machine covers almost everything as long as the products physically fit in the machine. At the highway rest area, there is food (hot cup ramen, hot cheese burger, ice cream and so on) vending machine, and others such as for batteries, disposable camera. At public bath, there is vending machine for shampoo, conditioner, shaving razor, stockings, and so on. Of course, at love hotels, the vending machine covers adult toys, condom, and others. Until a decade or so ago, porn magazines and condoms are sold at vending machine on the street. But due to the aggressive opposition from the community, the porn magazines are very hard to find on vending machine now. Believe it or not... Let me go to the commodities which might attract your attention. In the late 80s and the early 90s, when Japan was in the economic boom, Japanese sexual subculture went very strange way. Many high school girls made a good amount of money by selling their belongings and their time to males in higher generations. You might have heard that many high school girls "date" with middle-aged men for, say, 2 hours, and received about $400. (If it includes sexual activities, it goes up much higher.) Also, some girls sold their pre-worn underwear for about $30 or so. Naturally, some men are not brave enough to ask teenage girls for their underwear or phone numbers. So there was the market where vending machine can play a crucial roll. (Notice that this was beneficial for both of the supply and the demand sides.) The vending machine coordinators asked girls to supply their phone numbers or pre-worn underwear with their pictures, and placed them at the vending machine. As for the phone numbers, males buy them looking the photo picture at the vending machine, and then make a call to arrange dates. Of course, these vending machine was accused of helping prostitution. But since there are a lot of fussy parts included in the arrangements, this type of vending machine stayed on the street quite a while. I don't recommend you to go closer to this type of vending machine, and actually, I don't think you can find one now. But it might be useful for you to spice up the conversation with Japanese friends.  |
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