Japan has a long history of innovation in vending machines, particularly in the beverage industry. Beverage vending machines were first introduced in Japan in 1957. However, they gained significant popularity in 1962 when Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Vendo manufactured them for Tokyo Coca-Cola, resulting in 880 units being installed nationwide.
By 1973, the innovation of selling hot drinks through vending machines was introduced, revolutionizing the market with machines capable of switching from dispensing cold beverages in the summer to hot ones in the winter. This was further enhanced in 1977 when vending machines that could simultaneously offer both hot and cold drinks hit the market, offering unparalleled convenience to consumers. Since 2002, vending machines with cashless functions have been installed across the country.
In November 2022, a renowned beverage company in Japan began selling bottled hot water at stores and vending machines. Around that time, drinking hot water became a new norm for many men and women in Japan. This health-conscious trend is believed to be inspired by principles from Indian alternative medicine. Research has shown that drinking hot water can improve sleep quality, boost metabolism, enhance immunity, and help alleviate dry skin, fatigue, and constipation.
The hadal zone, also known as the hadopelagic zone, is the deepest region of the ocean. It lies within long narrow V-shaped depressions or “trenches” that range from around 6 to 11 km (3.7 to 6.8 miles) below sea level. In August, 2022, an international research group sent a deep sea exploration vessel with two crew members (one of whom was Japanese) to the 9801 meter deep seabed in the Izu-Ogasawara Trench in Japan. At that depth the water pressure is 1 ton per square centimeter. That is like holding a rhinoceros on the tip of your finger. They saw sea cucumber, sea anemone, shrimp, etc. at this depth. On the way there, they saw deepsea armored grenadier fish (シンカイヨロイダラ) and a species of eel, bassozetus robustus (ソコフクメンイタチウオ) at 6000 meter depth, and a snailfish (スネイルフィッシュ) and ghost snailfish (ゴーストスネイルフィッシュ) at 7000 meter depth. A snailfish has been successfully photographed at a depth of 8336 meters, and this was confirmed by the Guinness Book of World Records as “the deepest hadal zone fish ever found”.
