Editor’s Note: The Monthly Pass is a CNN travel series that highlights some of the most fascinating topics in the world of travel. In August, we’ll go back in time to revisit some of the greatest retro travel experiences.
(CNN) – There’s a reason Sagamihara, Japan isn’t in travel guides. It is a sprawling city of commuters to nearby Yokohama and Tokyo; a mix of main roads, light industrial areas and quiet towns that people cross rather than stop.
However, a 30-minute bus ride from Sagami-Ono station and tucked behind a main road is Tatsuhiro Saito’s used tire shop, an unexpected and extraordinary destination for those looking for a taste of Japan’s recent past, dispensed with around 70 restored stores and functioning Showa-era food vending machines (1926–1989).
Japan has long had a penchant for vending machines, with more per capita than any other country. While some rare examples in parts of Tokyo dispense curiosities like collectible jewelry and toys, most (more than half of the four million machines currently in operation in Japan) dispense drinks.
Saito’s collection of vintage cars – commonly referred to as “natsukashii” or nostalgic in Japanese – is a rare delight.
Most exhibited along two covered walkways next to the dusty parking lot date back to the 1970s and 1980s. Sweets and snacks that were common decades ago are available and often greeted with cheers from visitors. If that doesn’t elicit a fond nostalgic feeling, there are retro toys, Kodak camera film, AA batteries, and even some arcade machines.
A meal from a machine
They are the models serving hot food that attract hundreds of people every weekend. Read also : A new Portland restaurant group wants to revitalize the food industry.
For just 280 yen ($ 2), the burgers – classic or teriyaki flavor – pop out of machines that date back to the mid-1980s in cheerful bright yellow boxes. Cha sui ramen nearly piping hot, just 400 yen ($ 3) per serving, is served in wobbly plastic bowls in just 25 seconds.
A visitor checks the options on a noodle vending machine.
Other machines dispense hot Japanese-style curry roux over large bowls of rice; a nice red digital countdown that informs customers how long they have to wait before they can slip in.
The “American popcorn” machine jingles and hums to some cheeky tunes.
Thirsty visitors need to apply some muscle to a pair of charming but clunky vintage Coke machines to part with their classic glass-bottle drinks, each worth 100 yen (75 cents).
Finding a following
The unique designs and artwork of the machines are an attraction for many visitors as much as the food and drink themselves. To see also : 10 relationships ruined by food, according to Reddit.
Goro Seto, head of the Kanagawa Vespa Club, is old enough to recall some of the machines from their heyday. He recently added it as a pit stop for his group’s final race after seeing YouTube videos of Saito and his collection.
Other visitors are more interested in mechanics. A local couple who frequent the site regularly come back regularly to see what new machine Saito adds to the collection. They claim Sharp’s “Noodle Shop” ramen machine is the best because it has enlarged dispensing hatch and the food is not hot when served.
A range of beverage vending machines sell soft drinks and coffee.
Some visitors took their enthusiasm even more. Yusuke Uotani has published books on nostalgic vending machines and is regularly on the road to find and report new discoveries via his website.
Another well-known destination for nostalgic vending machine enthusiasts is in Marumiya in rural Gunma prefecture. It has a similar collection to Saito’s, but is less accessible from Tokyo.
Behind the mystique
Saito, 50, says he didn’t expect to start a business based on his love of vending machines and their inner workings. To see also : Wow Bao now offers food through high-tech vending machines.
He realized that those types of machines from his childhood were becoming a rarer sight in Japan and saw it as a challenge to restore or maintain them. Mostly bought the machines through online auctions or found through word of mouth.
Since 2016, collecting vending machines has become more time-consuming than tire fitting.
Now, Saito employs nearly as many people to work in the kitchens and keep the cars stocked as it does to change tires.
Saito poses in front of two of his vending machines.
Spoiler alert: for those who delude themselves that the machines are so high-tech that they have prepared and cooked all the food they served, but they don’t.
While the burgers are made specifically for Saito from a food supplier’s original recipe in Ebina (if you want to know the ingredients, you probably shouldn’t eat them), almost all other meals – toasted buns, udon, curry, soba, rice, and ochazuke with salmon and green tea – they are prepared in the on-site kitchens.
Saito and his staff have to refuel the cars every day, and sometimes several times a day on weekends.
Food safety laws require that anyone in Japan who owns a hot food vending machine has an appropriate license and maintains sanitary standards, similar to restaurants.
It’s the main reason food vending machines were located near roadside cafes and why, since the rise of ubiquitous Japanese convenience stores over the past 30 years, their numbers have declined.
According to the Japan Vending Systems Manufacturers Association, food vending machines in Japan reached their peak in 1985, when there were 250,000 of them across the country. By December 2021, it had dropped to 72,800. That number includes frozen foods like ice cream and sweets, so hot food machines are few and far between.
Some machines have enjoyed some sort of mini-awakening in the past couple of years, triggered in part by the pandemic’s effect on restaurant opening hours. Frozen ramen machines, for example, have sprung up outside Tokyo restaurants over the past year.
For now, though, it looks like it will be up to Saito and other mechanically minded enthusiasts to keep the flavors and memories of the Showa era alive.
