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Comment by on_and_off | Hacker News Reader

Who buys stuff in a vending machine in the middle of nowhere though ?

I am really intrigued.

Miki Meek a radio producer who I meet on a 4 day trek through Guatemala has a This American Life about a phone booth in the middle of nowhere in Japan with no connections to power, people go there to talk to deceased loved ones. It's a beautiful piece of radio journalism. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/597/...

That's based on an NHK documentary called 'Kaze no Denwa' (Telephone of the Wind.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg69F5gewkA

Part of the reason there are so many vending machines around is preparation for a disaster; vending machines from at least the last 15 years will dispense drinks for free in the event of a disaster.

According to this site Coca Cola dispensed around four million free drinks on 2011/3/11 (Great East Japan Earthquake).

http://www.cocacola.co.jp/vending-machine/emergency-support

If the vending machines are giving stuff away, what will CNN fill airtime with, when they can't complain about looters?!

Just kidding, I know they will just speculate about the possibility of it instead.

If the looters politely just took some groceries they needed but couldn't pay for because the local economy was in disarray then I'm sure they wouldn't complain. It's batshit people hoarding TV's and shit though.

A japanese riot- i guess thats a thousand disapproving stares..

How is this triggered? Via (lack of?) mobile connection or power?

People hiking/moving around, but they're also part of the country's disaster-preparedness system, they'll dispense product for free in case of disaster.

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