# A question for Dopers who have lived in/traveled in Japan **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 1, 2022, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dopers-who-have-lived-in-traveled-in-japan/963751 "2022-05-01T03:13:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2022, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dopers-who-have-lived-in-traveled-in-japan/963751/41 "2022-05-04T10:56:53Z")
What was in that narrow center machine in the image? ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2022, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dopers-who-have-lived-in-traveled-in-japan/963751/42 "2022-05-04T13:04:08Z")
That is the collection box for the empties. All venting machines are required to have them. The hole is sized to allow empty cans but prevent larger garbage. Note that the vending machines have the red and blue signs for hot and cold drinks. As the left is a Coke vending machine, the coffee is Georgia band, owned by Coke. The vending machine on the right sells Boss coffee, a rival brand. Also note the Coke vending machine allows smart card payment with five types of cards (and more brands than the five) whit the one on the right does not. Both types take coins and 1,0000 yen bills. [Here](https://www.google.com/maps/@35.7124893,139.7963924,3a,75y,282.87h,80.46t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sUOCDNffuBFCB4p0I8Zslcw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) is the vending machine in question. (google street image) It’s in Asakusa, by the famous temple. If you go down to the Sumida River, you can catch a water bus down the river, past where the sumo tournaments are held, and I recommend getting off on the [Hamarikyu Gardens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hama-riky%C5%AB_Gardens), an absolutely georgous place I tended to take many guests. The location of the vending machine is part of 下町 "shitamachi\* (lower city) which is where the working class lived and with small alleyways and crowded housing. The was the location of the [first firebombing](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/US_Strategic_Bombing_of_Tokyo_1944-1945.png) of Tokyo and not too far from where my ex-wife’s mother grew up. The areas in black were the parts burned out on that first raid. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2022, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dopers-who-have-lived-in-traveled-in-japan/963751/43 "2022-05-04T13:11:35Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > That is the collection box for the empties. All venting machines are required to have them. The hole is sized to allow empty cans but prevent larger garbage. Are the stickers it’s covered with done by users, or is it designed to look chaotic? ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2022, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dopers-who-have-lived-in-traveled-in-japan/963751/44 "2022-05-04T13:25:31Z")
By users and the public. If you click on the street view you can see it’s cleaner then. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2022, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dopers-who-have-lived-in-traveled-in-japan/963751/45 "2022-05-07T19:23:03Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Big-time American actors are a very big deal in Japanese advertising. I remember from my stint on Okinawa in 1974 TV ads for whiskey – Suntory I think – that featured James Coburn simply holding a shot glass of the stuff and saying the name. That was parodied very well in _Lost in Translation_. It was the Bill Murray character’s entire reason for being in Japan. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-dopers-who-have-lived-in-traveled-in-japan/963751.md?page=2)