Photo - Kamakura Vending Machines from 1997

I was going through old photos and found this. I originally took this to show how many vending machines were lined up, but now many years later and upon closer inspection, it is much more interesting. At the time, I was doing basic research and didn't have much of an interest in food products.

Very grainy, but you can see from right to left UCC, Lotte ice cream, Haagen Daz ice cream, Coke, DyDo, Kirin, Suntory, Pocari Sweat (Otsuka Seiyaku), Yakult, Ito-En, Glico (Pocky chocolate sticks), Canada Dry (through Coca Cola in Japan), Asahi, and Fuji Film.

Interesting points:
1) Stevia - The biggest print on the Pocari Sweat machine says Stevia. Very interesting as this is the "new" sweetener just making it to Europe and the US 16 years later.
2) Ice Cream Vending Machines - I bet you would have to do some searching to find two ice cream vending machines side-by-side outside Japan. In this case, there is a little tent over them, but still in the summer the street pictured is blazing hot. It must have taken a lot of energy to keep them running.
3) Fuji Film Vending Machines - You almost never camera film anywhere these days, much less from a vending machine. However, here in Japan you do still occasionally see disposable camera vending machines at tourist attractions where one might want one for an emergency photo.
4) Canada Dry goes through Coca Cola here, but as you can see here, it is often bundled with different offerings from the basic Coca Cola lineup. This is probably because Canada Dry is owned by a competitor in the US, the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group.