One reason why I love Japanese Vending Machines !

One reason why I love Japanese Vending Machines !, originally uploaded by angryparsnip.

On a trip to visit sleepytako who was living and teaching in Sanda
Japan at the time, I came to realize how much I love vending machines.

Sanda Is about 35 kilometers beyond the Rokko Mountain range from
Osaka.
This is a big agricultural area known for fabulous Strawberries and
the famous Kobe Beef.
It is about a hour train ride into Osaka through some of the most
beautiful mountains, tree covered tunnels (each tunnel has a name) to
bridges over rocky, crystal clear rivers.

It is visual heaven to this desert dweller.

Sanda is a commuter family town and has a vibrant city area and train
station but I was living out in the countryside so I had a charming
but very small train station.
Next to the train station, there were fields of rice and vegetables
along both sides of the road I walked to get to the apartment I was
staying at.
You never see a plot of land that is empty in Japan if it is flat
there is always something growing on it from rice, vegetables or
flowers.

Late one evening after we left the lights of the train station, parking lot, taxi
station and a few late night riders, it was just me and the mollybot
walking down this very dark and quiet road. There were a few homes and
street lights but it was dark and so quiet I swear that you could hear
the rice growing.

Then right before us glowing in the dark standing all by itself next
to an electrical pole and a rice field, lighting our way down the road
was a soft drink vending machine. Softly glowing in the dark all by
itself, just standing there lighting our way.

I came to really love seeing that vending machine on those late night
walks home.
I miss that walk, I miss that vending machine and I can't believe I
don't have a picture !

But I remember it all, like I was just there walking down that road
again late last night !

glowing. . . parsnip
music. . . A Place We Must Return To, Final Fantasy OST