Ah... Japan, the land of Vending Machines (VM)?

It is quite amazing to see that there are at least two VMs at every street corner around here. You can buy almost anything from one of this ideally located VMs. From the conventional hot/cold drinks to ciggies to the not-so-conventional items such as sandwiches, snacks, condoms, pay-per-view tv card, fare card, maps and even a bowl of ramen, pipping hot ready for consumption. In a way, it probably helps to create little personal oasis in their daily lives where there is no need to face another human to get what you want and you can be a hermit amidst this lush urban environment. Yet, this is a country that prides itself in terms of their service towards others. I must admit their sales staff is the most helpful and polite i have seen anywhere else. Just try stepping into a departmental store, they actually pay people to stand at the door to hand out sweets and say goodbye even if you have just been looking only. At least i did not feel bad when i did not buy anything unlike certain places where they don't bother to even look at you once they see how you are dressed. So it is a little strange to me to witness how this do-it-yourself system co-exist within a culture seeped in rigid hierachical protocols, strict service attitudes, and need of maintaining veneers of respectibility.

We alternate between having to do everything ourselves and having everything done for us. It all stems from this visit to a nearby VM cafe where people were buying lunch like ramens, sandwiches and drinks from rows of different VMs and eating them on the tables/chairs provided before disposing the bowls/cups into the bins provided. No waiter or host was needed. After seeing this cafe, we had dinner at this eating place where the host (a 80yr old lady) insisted on serving us everything throughout the dinner. It is an interesting contradiction in experiences. In any case, this is only my fifth day here and i hardly profess to know everything about Japan. It is probably just the tourist speaking but still, it makes interesting food for thoughts doesn't it?