The Japanese Vending Machine

In honor of the movie The Japanese Version, this weeks topic is, well, the Japanese version. I chose the Japanese version of vending machines. In the States vending machines have almost exclusively snacks or soda, although I have seen vending machines with electronics such as iPods in them at airports. Regardless, people have no doubt heard of the famed panty vending machines of Japan. I have not seen any used panty sold in vending machines (although I have seen them for sale in certain stores in Osaka's Den Den Town, but that is a topic for another time) but I have seen other items in vending machines that might catch an American off guard. The first picture is of an Coca-Cola brand vending machine. It has some standard and less standard things. Some soda that isn't as common in the U.S. and Japanese brands that aren't know, or at least well known, in the States. That is to be expected. A selection of canned coffee is a little stranger, especially for a Coke machine, but it is within the realm of possibility. It isn't until the second picture that we see anything really strange. It is a beer vending machine. The picture I have is not very good, but it has a variety of beer and even canned whiskey and jarred sake. And anyone may use the machine. There is nothing to verify age or anything else. As long as you have 200 en, you can buy yourself a can of beer or even a jar of sake. And it is less then a minute's walk from the dorm. In the U.S. that would just lead to underaged alcoholics.

This week: Photos from someone who knows what they are doing (and aren't using a cell phone)

The assignment for this week was slightly different from the ones in the past and future. This week we were to choose a Japanese photographer and present some of their work and reflect upon it. I chose Nobuyoshi Araki, whose website can be found here; http://www.arakinobuyoshi.com/main.html. I got the pictures from the site Studio International whose site can be found here; http://www.studio-international.co.uk/default.asp.
I chose the first picture mostly to contrast with the second, to show that this photographer had range. With only 200 words there is only so much that can be said. In the interest of actually saying something about it, I like how it shows that the Japanese are not the emotionally stunted people they are commonly assumed to be.This is another photo from Araki, and represents what he is more well known for. Something that I took away from this picture, and this is likely not what Araki had in mind, was that it shows a Japanese woman in an obviously submissive position. So often I hear people here talking about how victimized the Japanese are, while this picture demonstrates a Japanese willingly entering a situation of submission to another Japanese person. If this had been taking by a white photographer I'm sure it would catch flack for being racist. As it is, it'll probably only catch flack for being sexist. Baby steps, I suppose.