Two Down drinks vending machine, Osaka

A Two Down (ツーダウン Tsūdaun) drinks vending machine on the side of a street in the Nipponbashi district of Osaka, Japan. Drinks vending machines are a common site on the streets of Japan, and the prices are usually very similar to (sometimes cheaper than) buying the same item from a shop.

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vending_machine#Japan):

Japan has the highest number of vending machines per capita, with about one machine for every twenty-three people. Japan's high population density, relatively high cost of labor, limited space, preference for shopping on foot or by bicycle, and low rates of vandalism and petty crime, provide an accommodating environment for vending machines. While the majority of machines in Japan are stocked with drinks, snacks, and cigarettes, one occasionally finds vending machines selling items such as bottles of liquor, cans of beer, fried food, underwear, iPods, porn magazines, sexual lubricants, live lobsters, fresh meat, eggs and potted plants.

The first vending machine in Japan was made of wood and sold postage stamps and post cards. About 80 years ago, there were vending machines that sold sweets called "Glico". In 1967, the 100-yen coin was distributed for the first time, and vending machine sales skyrocketed overnight, selling a variety of items everywhere.

In Japan, vending machines are known as 自動販売機 (jidō-hanbaiki) from jidō, or "automatic"; hanbai, or "vending"; and ki, or "machine", 自販機 (jihanki) for short.

In 1999, the estimated 5.6 million coin- and card-operated Japanese vending machines generated $53.28 billion in sales. Vending machine goods and services can cost as little as 50 and as much as 3,000 yen.

• Asia
• Japan
• 日本国
• Nihon-koku
• Kansai region
• 関西地方
• Kansai-chihō
• Osaka prefecture
• 大阪府
• Ōsaka-fu
• Osaka city
• 大阪市
• Ōsaka-shi
• Naniwa-ku
• 浪速区
• Kinki region
• 近畿地方
• Kinki-chihō
• Nipponbashi
• 日本橋
• Vending machine
• 自動販売機
• jidō-hanbaiki

• Nikon Capture NX 2

-0.3 exposure compensation in CNX2
Curves adjustment to increase contrast in CNX2