live crab vending machine (Originally posted April 01, 2011)

There is a vending machine that sells live crabs.

Yes, you read that correctly.



The man who installed the machine in the Xinjeiko subway station had a simple dream, a dream that every man, woman and child in China—or those that at least passed by the machine—would be able to get an affordable crab to cook and eat or maybe name and keep as a pet. Whatever strikes their fancies.

I am sort of only making up half of that.

Anyway. The crabs are kept at a certain temperature so they go into hibernation until they're bought and woken up before they're killed and eaten. Sort of like Walt Disney.

...that's what they did to Walt Disney, right?

Maybe I'm thinking of someone else.

Also included in the machine are a few sauces and you receive the complementary stares of passersby if you actually purchase one. And if it's weird to Chinese people, then you know it's really odd.



I think I saw one of the big ones on the top rack trying to escape. He blinked at me.

At least he doesn't know where I live.

A Rule of Thumb: Vending Machines (Originally posted Feb 10, 2009)

Vending machines are EVERYWHERE in Japan, most common are the ones that have drinks like hot cans of coffee or bottled water. There's also the 'gambling' vending machines, where you put in about $10 and can get anything from a hat to a camera, or nothing at all. I've seen a building with nothing but vending machines, and then you sit down at the counter and eat. You can get french fries, hard boiled eggs... I know, right.

But besides the obvious reasons, vending machines can be a good way of gauging the part of Tokyo you're in. Take a can of coffee, for instance. To make the can and the coffee, it's probably really worth like 40 cents. When it's put in the vending machine, the coffee is priced by how much people in the town would be willing to pay for it. On average, a can is $1.00. In Ginza, it'll be about $2.00. And in the Yakuza part of Yokohama I was in on Sunday (long story) that can was $0.50. I was sorely tempted to stock up, but there was a guy yelling at me to "Get the hell out!" (of the town, I assume) as he hastily packed up his van full of suspicious items. 50 cent coffee in Tokyo, I'm sorely tempted to go back...

There was a nice Yakuza guy in a purple coat and cowboy boots who said hello to me, though, in broken English with a big smile.

Anyway! It was an interesting part of town. It went from Chanel and boutiques to slums in about one block. The Yakuza HQ--I think it's the Inagawa-kai family that runs Yokohama--is like right beside a police booth. I was told they kinda run the town together; immigrants from South East Asia live there to work at the docks and there are other people looking for... work. The police and the Yakuza kinda have a mutual understanding, as it were. It was no worse than what you might see in North Philly, but the Yakuza presence is very out in the open. I could go on and on about it, but now I'm craving some coffee...