This is a detailed shot of a drink vending machine on a train station platform. I don’t know why exactly, but I find this combination of colors and imagery so potent, so irresistable, so effective. The marketing and creative boys did good on this one I think. Even though it was probably around 10ºC (50ºF) there on the platform, looking at this machine I started to feel the perverse desire for it to be one of Japan’s patented hot-and-humid summer days!
This type of open-cup vending machine is fast fading in the U.S. (I can’t even remember the last time I saw one), but is quite common here. In addition to juices, there’s the requisite machines dispensing coffee, and even machines serving up soups and such. Here we have meron (melon) and buruuberii (blueberry) drinks to choose from, available in either medium or large sizes. (The text in the blue circles at the top says “You can choose your cup size” just in case it wasn’t already apparent). The text for the blueberry drink touts me ni yasashii (“good for the eyes”), and adds that the drink contains anthocyanin and Vitamin C.
I had no idea, but studies abound about the benefits of berries like bilberries and blueberries to one’s health, especially one’s eyesight. (One such study, in Japanese, can be found here in pdf. format). In Japan in the late 90’s, there was a veritable “blueberry boom,” and a lot of blueberry products were introduced into the Japanese market. I suppose a “Hello Kitty” blueberry dessert was inevitable, but blueberry pizza or blueberry curry?
