Vending Noodles

The Japanese love their vending machines. There are machines for liquid refreshment, alcoholic and otherwise, on practically every little street.. Most of these are not so different than those at home, other than their design.

this one has Tommy Lee Jones as the "Boss"
I wonder if he knows

But a few of them are wondrous. For example, you can get a tin of hot coffee. And you can choose black or sweat creamy - all sorts of roasts as well. And it's not bad! Especially on a cool morning, grabbing a lovely hot tin, and then opening it to drink something creamy and a little sweet - oooo, lovely.

a little shed with a vending machine: cold rice tea and hot coffee

Another unusual vending machine choice is ramen. At the Kyoto train station there is an entire floor - the 10th floor to be exact, where about a dozen ramen cafes reside. One chooses, pays, and gets a ticket, then waits in line until a seat is free. Whoosh, in front of you is delivered a big bowl of hot broth with your choice of thin or thick noodles and whatever you choose via machine: sliced hard-boiled egg, a slab of pork, bean shoots of course but maybe also palm hearts, yellow corn kernels, sliced cabbage, nori seaweed.

ramen vending machine

Ok, that last one was not strictly a vending machine in that the soup comes out of the machine itself, but it's as good as I say.