TOKYO >> Fancy some hot noodle soup? There’s a choice of hot and fresh udon, soba and ramen. Maybe a hamburger? There’s even toast, or a nice serving of ochazuke, a bowl of rice in tea or soup. Not to mention chewing gum, fortune-telling slips and Coke in glass bottles.

Lines of retro vending machines offer these eclectic items on the outskirts of Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture.

The restored machines sit next to the lot of Chuko Tire Ichiba Sagamiharaten, a company that sells used tires and wheels. Company President Tatsuhiro Saito, 49, installed the machines to keep customers occupied while waiting for their tires to be changed.

Saito started four or five years ago with five vending machines and, after they proved surprisingly popular with customers, he continually added more machines, acquired through online auctions and other venues, eventually building the current lineup of about 100.

Many of the vending machines are 30 to 40 years old, and to people who grew up during the Showa era (1926-1989), they feel like old acquaintances. But those machines came with no instruction manuals, and many were not in operating condition when he bought them, so Saito had to do a range of repairs himself, from parts replacement to rewiring.

Another problem was procuring the products to fill the machines. Saito found a vendor in Okinawa prefecture that produces curry for vending machines, and he had to place a special order to get hamburgers with the right retro taste and wrapper. On-site, a staff of four prepare bread, half-cooked noodles and other items before they are loaded into the machines.

Saito estimates the machines draw between 300 to 400 customers a day on weekdays, and about 1,000 on weekends. At their busiest, staff will prepare as many as 600 meals in one day, but many items still sell out.

“I drove 40 minutes and brought my three children born in the Heisei era (1989-2019) just to eat something here,” said a 38-year-old woman from Hachioji, Tokyo, who runs a construction business. It was her fourth trip to the retro machines.

“They beg me to bring them and we come every three months or so. They never saw ramen or udon coming out of a vending machine while growing up. I fondly remember such machines, but the kids seem to be intrigued that delicious meals come out of a machine, and it seems really fun for them.”

Nowadays, Saito either repairs the machines or replaces them with another retro offering. He says he makes good use of the skills and tools he employs for his original business of repairing wheels and changing tires, which, by the way, is also doing well.

“Each old vending machine has its own unique design and mechanism, and it’s part of the appeal that in this digital age, we can buy hot food 24 hours a day from an analog machine,” Saito said. “I fix them while feeling the creative spirit of the Showa era.”