Vending machines are everywhere in Tokyo: every street corner, every dark alleyway, every train station, every parking lot. Everywhere. Sometimes they stand alone, sometimes they are in pairs, sometimes they are in gangs of three and sometimes a whole row of them line up on one side of the street and watch you go by.

There is something animate about them. After I photograph them, I remember them. When I see them again, I recognize them..it’s like that feeling of bumping into someone you have met somewhere before. They remind me of jukeboxes a little. You have a relationship with them, an agreement…you give them your coins, push the right buttons and the machine gives you what you want. At night, their bright paint and little blinking lights entice you from afar.

“How about a beer?” they ask.

Or, in their quiet understanding way they remark: “I bet you could use a cigarette right now.”

I am going to miss them.

boop beep boop beep ding-ding-ding-ding-ding

Good night my friends..

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Japanese convenience stores are very different from their North American counterparts. On top of things like toilet paper, cup noodles and soda, they also have an enormous variety of snacks, fully cooked meals, meal prep kits to take home, and every drink you can imagine. Last time I was at 7-Eleven I even noticed plastic wrapped dress shirts and neckties in case you need one in a hurry. Underwear too! There is usually a place to sit down to eat as well as a clean public washroom. Free Wifi and foreign card ATMs are also available. Amazing. I photographed all the stores at night because I like the way their incandescent glow washes over the street and backlights the people going in and out.

There is so much more to these places….they have EVERYTHING (except deodorant). The novelty and variety of the snacks alone is astonishing. They have no equal elsewhere.

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For as long as I can remember, my daughter has been obsessed with fake food. When we went to Ikea, she was far more interested in the rubber grapes and plastic apples in the displays than any stuffed animal or toy. So we were pretty happy to discover Kappabashi street not far from our house in Tokyo.

Kappabashi Street is home to restaurant supply stores selling everything from pots and pans to tableware and chef uniforms. But not only that. They also supply shokuhin sampuru, the plastic and rubber food that is used in restaurant window displays across the country. Everything you see below is fake. If it wasn’t wrapped in plastic, it would be hard to tell that it wasn’t real.

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