Unscrupulous vending machine operators appear to be cashing in on the drunken salaryman.

After a long day's work at the office, many salarymen go for a little bite to eat and a bellyfull of booze at a nearby izakaya with their fellow workers.

Following a crate load of beers and one or two cups of sake, most of them are suddenly not able to tell their arse from their briefcase, which often results in an awkward moment when they mistakenly wipe the latter after taking a dump.

The very next minute they can be seen stumbling out of the izakaya, slurring their farewells and staggering on their merry way.

Enter the conniving vending machine owner who has come to realise that at this time of night it doesn't matter two hoots whether the vending machine is bursting at the seams with a whole load of booze, or packed to the rafters with a big pile of nothing.

The poor salaryman, goggle-eyed and clearly not in full control of his faculties, spots the machine and, as if on auto-pilot, thrusts a well-thumbed 500-yen coin into the slot. The machine is programmed to respond with a clunking sound to simulate the sound of a falling can, but nothing else.

The salaryman fumbles around in the hole at the bottom, and unable to find his drink, leaves, feeling disgruntled. And most probably with a little bit of toilet paper trailing from his briefcase.


A salaryman so far gone that he'll never be coming back.


A fraudulent vending machine - easily identifiable by its emptiness.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 18, 2006 at 12:17 am. You can skip to the end and leave a response.