Perhaps it stems from national pride at having one of the most efficient and clean rail services in the world, but for some reason, Japan just loves trains.

Taking pride in their timeliness (even apologising for leaving seconds earlier than scheduled), lovingly redecorating their bullet trains with Hello Kitty motifs, and even having a train themed bar for avid rail otaku, their transport obsession is pretty evident.

It’s sad news when the time comes to retire a train, but subway company Tokyo Metro have collaborated with canned coffee favourite, Boss coffee, to come up with a way to reuse the old parts and breathe new life into an old train.

Located at Tameike Sanno station, where the Ginza subway line terminates, they used the old parts to create a drinks vending machine that looks just like the front of a Ginza line train.

The disused train which was recycled is an example of Ginza line’s 01 series which debuted in 1983 and got replaced with a new model in 2004.

The vending machine doesn’t just look like a train, some train sounds have been recreated too. The usual announcements you can hear have been humorously altered and rerecorded to fit the theme. For example, the usual announcement to stop people from running on the train as the doors close is, ‘please do not force your way into the train.’ The announcement coming from The Vending Train is ‘please do not force your coins in’.

These announcements play when station goers get near to the vending machine or buy a drink from it.

If you’re one of the many train enthusiasts, or if you just happen to have a soft spot for the Ginza line, The Vending Train is located at Tameike Sanno station between exits 11 and 12.


By - grape Japan editorial staff.