[bill1952]

- in the Japanese countryside that sell beer in vending machines

Wow! I did not see that in Tokyo or Osaka.
By a strange twist of fate, I was in Puerto Rico back in April of 1972, and there were beer machines all over.
I wonder if they still have them.

BTW, that beer was terrible stuff. Thanks - bill

[sushiman]

Beer , sake , whiskey and sho chu were sold in vending machines in front of liquor shops all over Japan until a couple of years ago . One can still walk down Ginza quaffing a beer or a glass cup of sake without a hassle . I was back home on Long Island a couple of years ago with a foot in the road in front of my parents’ place sipping a brew and a cop stopped to give me a warning . Land of the free ?

[TalonDJ]

Wow! I did not see that in Tokyo or Osaka.

Really? Because last time I was in Tokyo, less than a year ago, we got some Kirin out of the vending machine in the hall in the hotel.

[green iguana]

I’ve never seen vending machines with beer in PR in the many times I’ve been there from 1984 through last year.

I did see one in Tokyo last fall - took a picture of it since I was so astounded by it. Thought to myself, boy they must have much better behaved children here than we do in the states to be able to do that. That was before I realized that there aren’t any children in Tokyo...

[visualops]

My mother just returned from Japan a couple of weeks ago and said they sell just about everything in vending machines there. I can’t recall if she mentioned beer or sake though. A little googling seems to show they still have the machines although apparently many companies voluntarily stopped beer vending a few years ago.