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Japan’s vending machines: why there is one on every corner

Japan has over 2 million drink machines, many outdoors all night. Why they stay on the street, how one machine sells hot and cold, and what else they sell.

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5 min read

Train station platform at night with lit vending machines beside a bench
Photo by Zheng XUE on Unsplash

Japan has millions of vending machines, and plenty of them stand outdoors, lit all night, on street corners, station platforms, country roads and mountain foothills. The Japan Vending System Manufacturers Association (JVMA) counted 2,254,400 beverage machines at the end of 2021. The country ranks second in the world by number of machines, behind the United States, and first by machines per person.

The short answer to the title: the machines stay on the street because the country is safe and because a network of operator companies stocks and maintains them. For a traveller, they mean a drink at any hour, a place to drop cans and bottles and, in some towns, a source of emergency water.

How many machines there are

The count depends on who is counting. A survey by the Anshin Life foundation, cited in our piece on Japan’s missing trash cans, puts the total at about 2.22 million drink machines and 3.93 million machines of all kinds at the end of 2023. The research institute Inryo Soken, using a different series, counted 1.95 million soft-drink machines in 2025, 20% below the 2014 peak of 2.47 million.

So the number is falling. According to the JVMA, the causes are competition from convenience stores, a shortage of workers to restock them and the removal of machines that sell little. Even so, Japan remains the country where you see a machine on nearly every corner.

A history of more than a century

The idea is not new. According to Wikipedia, a patent for an “automatic goods vending machine” was filed in Japan in 1888. The oldest surviving machines, from around 1900, sold stamps, postcards and sake. Sweets machines spread in the 1920s, and juice machines took off in the late 1950s and 1960s.

Large-scale growth came from the United States, through Coca-Cola’s sales by machine, according to the JVMA. Japanese makers created operating companies to refill the machines and collect the cash, and that service is what let the network spread nationwide.

Why they stay outdoors

In many countries vending machines moved indoors because of vandalism and theft. In Japan, according to the JVMA, they stayed outside, which the association attributes to the country’s safety and order. The operator network does the rest: machines are restocked and repaired regularly, and rarely break down.

The machines also take money easily. They accept many coins, banknotes and transport IC cards, and rarely reject what is inserted. In 2024 the JVMA was preparing machines for the new yen banknotes issued that year.

Hot and cold from the same machine

One detail the visitor notices quickly: a single machine sells both cold and hot drinks. According to the JVMA, this comes from Japan’s four distinct seasons, because in winter nobody would buy a cold drink outdoors. The technical trick is a heat pump, which reuses heat from the cooling system to warm the hot drinks and uses little energy.

Efficiency has improved too: electricity use per drink machine fell by about 70% over the 20 years from 1991, according to the JVMA.

What you can buy

Most of it is drinks: green tea, canned coffee, water, sports drinks and juice. But the list is far longer. According to the JVMA and Wikipedia, there are machines selling:

  • Frozen food, kept at minus 25°C. The machine stops selling if the temperature stays above minus 15°C for 90 minutes.
  • Hats, umbrellas, flowers and even wedding ring kits.
  • Cakes and cotton candy in Shibuya, fresh salad, orange juice squeezed on demand and regional curries at Haneda Airport.
  • Cigarettes, which need the Taspo card, used since 1 July 2008 to check age. The card is only issued to people aged 20 or over.

The IHCSA text also mentions a May 2022 trial of a medicine machine in which a pharmacist approves the sale by video.

Machines that help in emergencies

Some machines do more than sell. According to the JVMA, certain models release free drinking water after a disaster and others carry their own generators. Some have security cameras and address plates, which helps pinpoint the exact spot in an emergency call.

In practice

  • Carry coins and a transport IC card. According to the JVMA, the machines accept coins, banknotes and those cards.
  • Check whether a drink is hot or cold before you press the button: one machine sells both.
  • Use the container beside the machine only for cans and bottles, as our piece on Japan’s trash cans explains.

For the rest of the trip, it is worth reading about why tipping can embarrass the person receiving it and why most Japanese streets have no name.

Frequently asked questions

How many vending machines are there in Japan?

About 2.2 million drink machines and 3.9 million machines of all kinds, according to counts from the end of 2023. The number has been falling since its peak.

Why are vending machines on the street in Japan?

According to the JVMA, because the country is safe and because operator companies restock and maintain the machines regularly.

Do the machines sell hot drinks?

Yes. A single machine sells hot and cold drinks, using a heat pump that reuses heat from the cooling system.

Can I pay by card?

Many machines accept transport IC cards, as well as coins and banknotes.

Sources

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