SAGAMIHARA, Japan – A flurry of hungry customers on a recent lunch break curiously inspected the rows of retro vending machines next to a tire shop, located about a 10-minute drive from Camp Zama.
For six years, the Used Tire Market has served its customers with a unique dining experience in addition to its repair services.
While waiting for a repair or just there to eat, customers can pop coins into machines from the 1970s and 80s to purchase bowls of noodles, hot sandwiches and hamburgers, katsudon, curries and other fare.
People can also just come by and admire the machines without buying anything.
Valerie Broussard Boston, an Army spouse, has taken her family there four times after recently discovering the unexpected attraction found in a small industrial area.
“We walked up and we thought it was the coolest thing,” she said. “All of these vintage vending machines and each one had something different.”
Boston, her husband, who is assigned to the U.S. Army Japan Band, and their three daughters tried a variety of dishes, with ramen and soba noodles being among their favorites.
“It's a little slice of Japanese history that otherwise we would not have known about,” she said. “It's something that you can let your whole family experience for not a lot of money.”
Items in the machines of yesteryear cost a couple hundred yen, and there are a few newer machines that serve larger dishes for around 1,000 yen.
To cool down in the heat, ice cream, snowballs and cold drinks are available for under 150 yen, including classic bottles of cola stored in coolers that look as if they belong in an antique store.
Machines also sell candies, popcorn and toys as well as unusual items like batteries and even disposable cameras that add an extra touch of nostalgia.
Tatsuhiro Saito, who owns the machines and tire shop, said he started the collection with a Coke bottle cooler and now has over 100 machines.
“Our customers are mainly families,” he said. “[Parents] say, ‘It’s classic. I haven’t seen these for a long time.’ And kids will usually say, ‘It’s fun, it’s different!’”
Saito said it has been his hobby to collect the old machines and at first he just wanted to keep customers at his tire shop happy.
“Sometimes we have to have customers wait while their tires are getting repaired, so they enjoy our food vending machines while waiting,” he said. “Through word of mouth, we have more customers for vending machines now. I even spend more hours on the machines every day than my main job.”
Adjacent to the machines is a dirt lot with free parking and customers can either eat inside their vehicles, sit on benches or stand at wooden barrel tables to soak up the ambience.
Most of the vintage machines only accept coins, and change can be made inside the tire shop, where there are also old arcade games to play when it is open. The vending machines are located outside the shop and open 24 hours a day.
Japanese people have long appreciated the convenience of vending machines that often line sidewalks and inside train stations. The oldest machine in Japan, which sold boxed products such as cigarettes, dates back to the early 1890s. And while the U.S. has the most vending machines in the world with roughly 6.5 million, Japan has the largest number per capita with more than 4 million, according to the Japan Vending Machine Manufacturers Association.
While his customers are mainly Japanese, Saito said he would like to see more foreigners come to his shop. The foreigners who he does meet will typically buy hamburgers and a cola, he said, adding he hopes to offer them a larger selection in the future.
“The snacks we eat and the snacks people from foreign countries eat are different,” he said. “So it would be interesting if I could find some retro or classic snacks for them. I would like to see foreigners enjoy their retro food here as well.”
For Boston, who wears cat-eye glasses and manages the East Meets West Gift Shop, which sells Japanese antiques on Camp Zama, the vintage machines are right up her alley.
“It doesn’t matter which culture I am in,” she said. “Having a little bit more context of the place where I am at is something that's important to me."
She encouraged other community members to go outside the gates and find something new to them.
"It's really easy to stay in the bubble,” she said. “It's really easy to just eat at Subway, Popeyes and Burger King, and we do that back home.
“[This is] something that you have the advantage of doing, because you are here,” she added. “So get out of the bubble and go experience Japan."
(Editor’s note: The Used Tire Market can be found at 2661-1 Shimomizo, Sagamihara, which is about 10 minutes from Camp Zama’s Gate 7 and 15 minutes from Sagamihara Family Housing Area. For more information, check out the shop’s website here.)
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