- This is one of the best things I've ever seen.
This is so Jerry rigged and yet so perfect.
How does a decades old vintage retro
Japanese coffee vending machine work?
Today we're at a retro vending machine museum,
at a tire yard outside of Tokyo,
and I'm here with John from the channel Only in Japan.
And you were headed out here anyway,
to check it out. - I was headed out here.
I'm glad you you join me. - And said,
"Hey, do you wanna come along?"
And I absolutely do, I'm all into vending machines,
and I think we're gonna get to
check out the insides of some.
(fun upbeat music)
This is awesome, these are all from kind of different eras.
What's really interesting is that there are machines
that sell things we would never expect
to find in a vending machine, like hot meals.
This one has like hot noodles,
and dumplings, and things like that.
I can only imagine how much work it is
to keep these machines running.
These are not still being made.
So Saito-san here has been working on this machine
ever since we got here.
It looks like he's been fixing the cup dispenser
and he just showed us a little switch
that looks like it's worn out, I think he probably replaced.
Probably a limit switch for indicating
when a cup is dropped down
or when it's outta cups or something like that.
He's putting it back together getting the covers back on
and buttoning up the machine.
So I wanna ask him here how the machine works.
(vending machine whirs)
(ice falling)
- [John] You can see here it says coffee, tea.
And the milk is over here on the side.
Yeah, it's dried powder. - Dried powder.
- [John] So it goes into there,
it's mixed and then dumped into the cup.
- And then where is the ice stored?
Oh wow.
- [Scotty] Okay.
It's constantly rotating. - Wow.
- To keep it from freezing up as a solid block,
that's amazing and it must be making it at the bottom
and pushing it up.
How old is this machine?
- So like 1980.
This is amazing, and it makes decent coffee.
So he's loading up the machine now
in one of these like hot food machines
and it seems like they're being stored cold.
- [John] Oh.
Yeah, you can't see it,
but it's inside the bottom. - So it drops them down.
- Into the microwave. - Into the microwave
and then spits it out. - That's cool.
- Hamburgers,
toast,
drinks,
donuts,
noodles,
milkshake,
popcorn,
pot stickers,
orange juice.
Oh my god, it goes on.
This just keeps going, this is crazy.
Toys, ooh I like the conveyor belts.
Ice cream, candy apples.
Are these actually mystery boxes here?
They're a thousand each,
which is like a little less than 10 bucks.
I don't know what they are.
Whoa, this is a Kodak film vending machine
with 35 millimeter film on rolls and disposable cameras.
That's pretty cool.
- [John] This one is the only one in Japan.
- [Scotty] Oh wow.
- [Scotty] Wow!
- Oh, it's hot. It's stored hot.
- Oh wow.
That's wild.
- [John] Wow.
(bright Japanese music)
(bright Japanese music continues)
- Who cooks the rice?
- Wow.
- Just cook it in a rice cooker?
- Yeah, and then keep it heated up here.
- That's so much work. - Wow.
- That's amazing.
- Yeah, so this vending machine,
the curry rice vending machine doesn't use any microwaves
because this machine was made
before the microwave era. - Oh!
I was looking at these machines and thinking,
oh this is all microwave.
Oh, it's not gonna be very interesting inside,
but no, that's a cool- - Made the old fashioned way.
Heat it up, cut it open, put it on, there you go.
- So cool.
Let me get some noodles over here.
Oh my god!
Okay. This is really cool.
Well, these are Nixie tubes, which were displays,
they're essentially like vacuum tubes
that were used for numerical displays
prior to the invention of like segmented LED displays.
They're essentially a glowing wire in a vacuum tube
and they're really rare now.
To replace these you'd have to go hunt around
on the used market somewhere.
(vending machine dings) Oh my god!
Okay.
Oh, and there's, there's a topping in here.
Are these old Pachinko machines?
- [John] Just old video game machines.
Oh, you're supposed to get it into there, right?
- Oh, almost.
Oh, and then I think you win a little candy
if you successfully get it in the right hole.
(machines whirring)
Oh, this is a Bally machine from Chicago.
Just one of the four or five remaining
pinball machine companies.
Look at this bicycle racing machine.
Oh, that's sketchy, but also amazing, look at this.
Cycling Race 300 meters.
And then this one I'm quite curious about.
This one is a magnet crane.
(magnet crane beeping)
(lighthearted music)
Oh, that's so satisfying.
(lively upbeat music)
(lively upbeat music continues)
Oh, look at this!
Microwave popcorn.
Is this literally an off the shelf microwave?
- Yes. - That's just bolted in here.
- Yes.
(coin drops) (machine whirs)
(button dings)
(coin drops)
(exciting music)
(conveyor belt whirs)
- We can hear the popcorn popping inside the microwave.
Oh, it smells really good too.
(microwave dings)
- [John] We missed catching that one.
(group laughing) It's right on the ground.
It's small, it's really hot. - It's like smaller than.
There we go. - Ooh.
(popcorn crunches)
- Yep, it's popcorn.
- I don't believe you. - Just like microwave popcorn.
- I don't believe you.
(popcorn crunches)
Yeah it's popcorn. (laughs)
- Yeah, it tastes really good.
This must be the warehouse where they keep all the drinks
and things to fill the vending machine.
Yeah, sodas and Cup O' Noodles,
and all sorts of stuff in there.
It's right across from the vending machines.
Well what do you think, John?
- If you really want my opinion
this is better than Disneyland.
- This, I am speechless.
I'm literally speechless.
This is so cool.
Thank you so much for bringing me here.
This is been an absolute treat.
Saito, thank you so much.
You're clearly a kindred spirit with Strange Parts
and myself and other Strange Parts fans.
This is an amazing thing you've created
and I hope you keep it up for a long time to come.
Thank you for having us.
Go check out John's video.
We're gonna try out some of this food,
and you're gonna talk more about the history
of some of the things we're finding in these machines,
these machines themselves.
I'll put a link down to your video down below.
Go check out his channel and subscribe, Only in Japan.
- Only in Japan, I take you all around the corners of Japan
showing you the history, the culture, the technology.
Through those stories, I think you get a better immersion
in this country that is just so amazing.
Much more diverse than people think.
- It's fascinating.
Please go subscribe. He makes amazing videos.
(exciting music)
Have you ever dreamed of building
a wild Rube Goldberg machine
like that Microwave popcorn one?
I know I have ever since I was a kid.
But to build something like this,
it's not enough to have just textbook technical knowledge,
or even the creativity to come up with an original idea.
You need an intuition of how to approach and solve problems
which I think can really only be developed
through hands-on problem solving.
This is where Brilliant, the sponsor of this video comes in.
Brilliant is an online platform
that makes learning complex topics in math, and science,
and computer science, doable and fun.
Their lessons are bite-sized, accessible from anywhere
even on the go, even on a plane,
and focus on active learning through problem solving.
While these machines may have been built
entirely without code decades ago,
these days programming is an essential skill
you'll need to build insane machines
like the ones we've just seen.
Brilliant's Python course gets you writing code
quickly and tackling actual challenges from the get go.
And here's the sweet deal, the first 200 people to sign up
using the link in the description
get 20% off an annual premium subscription.
So don't miss this chance.
Just picture this, you start by tinkering
on a personal project and end up becoming the office wiz,
automating tasks and solving complex problems at work.
That was me when I originally learned to code,
and it completely changed both my career and my paycheck.
Whether you're a beginner, or an experienced engineer,
there's a ton to learn on Brilliant.
From machine learning, to quantum computing, calculus,
physics, and more.
I use their electricity and magnetism course
to brush up on high voltage physics,
when I was working with the scanning electron microscope
a few years ago and it was a great way
to refresh my long forgotten college physics 2 knowledge.
This is your shot to level up
your knowledge and your skills.
So head on over to brilliant.org/strangeparts
and start learning for free today.
I wanna give a big thanks to Brilliant
for supporting Strange Parts and stay tuned for
a huge iPhone project I got on the way.
I'll see you again soon.