Akihabaras Ramen in a Can Vending Machine Tokyo
Akihabara's Ramen in a Can Vending Machine Tokyo
Overview
In this unique Tokyo adventure, John Daub and his son Leo track down a rare vending machine in Akihabara selling ramen in a can. After months of searching, they find the machine operational and not sold out, located near Suehirocho Station. The video documents the entire experience, from purchasing the 550 yen cans to eating them on the street corner.
John provides historical context, noting that canned ramen vending machines were more common in Akihabara over a decade ago but have largely disappeared. This specific machine is a recent rebound, offering spicy miso ramen produced by a company in Sendai. The duo tastes the cold broth and noodles, reviewing the flavor profile and texture while discussing whether it serves better as a meal or a souvenir.
Beyond the food review, the video highlights Japanese street etiquette, as John emphasizes cleaning up trash and recycling cans immediately after eating. The episode also touches on family life in Japan, with mentions of Kanae working and a recent trip to the Nagano-Niigata border. It is a concise, engaging look at a bizarre yet functional piece of Japanese vending machine culture.
Highlights
- 00:00:01 John reveals the rare ramen in a can vending machine is finally stocked.
- 00:01:26 Leo helps push the button to dispense the canned ramen.
- 00:01:51 Discovery that the canned ramen is served cold, not hot.
- 00:02:26 John realizes there are no spoons or chopsticks included.
- 00:04:40 First taste test with the traditional phrase itadakimasu (let's eat).
- 00:05:04 Review of the spicy miso broth and ingredients like menma (fermented bamboo shoots).
- 00:07:18 John demonstrates proper street etiquette by cleaning up all trash.
- 00:08:17 Leo poses for the video thumbnail holding the ramen can.
- 00:10:16 Decision to buy extra cans as gifts for family back in America.
- 00:13:22 Safety reminder to stay on the shoulder while filming near traffic.
Timeline / Chapters
- 00:00:01 Introduction to the vending machine hunt.
- 00:00:20 Leo joins the adventure.
- 00:00:38 Purchasing the ramen cans.
- 00:01:59 Location details and map reference.
- 00:02:49 Preparing to eat on the street.
- 00:04:15 Tasting the broth and noodles.
- 00:07:18 Cleanup and recycling.
- 00:08:17 Final review and rating.
- 00:10:16 Buying gifts for family.
- 00:13:22 Safety tips and outro.
Japan Travel Tips
- Location: The vending machine is closer to Suehirocho Station than Akihabara Station, located behind the Gachapon Kaikan from Chuo Dori near a parking lot.
- Cost: Each can costs 550 yen. The machine accepts 1000 yen notes but may struggle with older 100 yen coins.
- Etiquette: Always clean up after eating on the street. John brings a plastic bag to dispose of the can and trash properly.
- Temperature: The ramen comes cold from the machine. It is edible cold but might be better warmed up at home.
- Souvenirs: Canned ramen makes a unique gift for ramen lovers back home, as it is shelf-stable and distinct from instant powder packets.
- Safety: Stay on the shoulder when filming near streets, even in low-traffic areas.
Japanese Language & Culture Notes
- Itadakimasu (いただきます): Said before eating to express gratitude for the food.
- Menma (メンマ): Fermented bamboo shoots, a common ramen topping mentioned by John.
- Negi (ネギ): Green onions, another standard ramen ingredient.
- Gachapon (ガチャポン): Capsule toy vending machines; John suggests using change for these.
- Hoikuen (保育園): Kindergarten; John spots a group of kids nearby but respects their privacy by not filming.
- Vending Machine Culture: Japan is famous for diverse vending machines. Canned hot meals were more common in the past; this cold canned ramen is a rare modern find.
- Trash Etiquette: Public trash cans are rare in Tokyo. Visitors are expected to carry their trash home or recycle it properly.
Food & Drink Guide
- Ramen in a Can (Spicy Miso)
- Price: 550 yen
- Location: Akihabara vending machine (near Suehirocho Station)
- Description: Canned ramen with spicy miso broth, corn, negi (green onion), and menma (fermented bamboo shoots).
- Temperature: Served cold from the machine.
- Review: John rates it highly for the experience and broth flavor, though notes it lacks intense spiciness. Leo enjoys it.
- Timestamp: 00:04:40
People
- John Daub: Host and creator of Only in Japan Go. He leads the exploration, provides historical context, and manages the filming and etiquette.
- Leo: John's son. He accompanies John, helps operate the vending machine, tastes the ramen, and appears in the thumbnail.
- Kanae Daub: John's wife. Mentioned as working at home, not present in the video.
- Robin: Mentioned briefly by John during the tasting, likely a crew member or family friend off-camera.
Key Takeaways
- Canned ramen vending machines are a rare relic in Akihabara, making this a unique find for visitors.
- The product is shelf-stable and can be transported internationally as a souvenir.
- Street eating is acceptable if you clean up thoroughly afterward.
- The ramen is edible cold but might benefit from heating.
- Vending machines may be finicky with older coin designs; notes are often safer.
Notable Quotes
- 00:00:01 "So after so many months of searching for it, it's finally here and it's not sold out apparently."
- 00:01:51 "This can is cold. It's cold."
- 00:04:40 "Itadakimasu (let's eat). Itadakimasu. It's actually okay. Just a little bit spicy."
- 00:06:37 "Always clean up after yourself. Suck it up."
- 00:07:18 "Keep the city of Tokyo spotless. And all cans can be recycled."
- 00:08:17 "This is part of the channel history, Leo."
- 00:10:16 "Ramen in a can is kind of a unique, bizarre idea. In fact, I will do that. Let's do that."
- 00:12:31 "I mean, Leo, it's like cold. Do you like cold ramen?"
- 00:13:22 "You got to stay on the shoulder. There's not a lot of traffic here."
- 00:14:42 "All right. Take care, guys."
Related Topics
- Japanese Vending Machine Culture
- Akihabara Street Food
- Family Travel in Tokyo
- Instant Ramen History
- Tokyo Trash Etiquette
Search Tags
#only-in-japan-go #tokyo #akihabara #ramen #vending-machine #canned-ramen #street-food #john-daub #leo #family-travel #suehirocho #spicy-miso #japan-travel #tokyo-food #unique-food
Full Transcript
00:00:01 John Daub: So after so many months of searching for it, it's finally here and it's not sold out apparently. So we're going to try it. But you can see in this discount vending machine in Akihabara, this one is the most expensive because it's ramen in a can. How cool is that?
00:00:20 John Daub: Joining me in this adventure is none other than Leo.
00:00:25 Leo: Yeah. Hello. Ramen.
00:00:29 John Daub: That's right. And do you like ramen?
00:00:34 Leo: Ramen. I love ramen.
00:00:38 John Daub: I'm going to put this money in the vending machine. Okay, let's do it. All right, 600 yen is in there. I don't know. Maybe it doesn't take the new vending machine coins. It doesn't take the new 500 yen coin. Oh my goodness. Okay, here. You can try this one. Put it. This is treasure here. Put that one in there. Let's see. Oh, you're doing it. There you go. All right, good. We have 1,100 yen. Enough for two of them actually. All right, can you push the button, Leo?
00:01:25 Leo: Okay.
00:01:26 John Daub: Hold on. I'll help you. Wait, wait, wait. Okay, do it. There it is. Get the can. Get all the change here. That's a lot of coin. We can use this for gachapon (capsule toys).
00:01:47 Leo: Is it hot?
00:01:51 John Daub: This can is cold. It's cold.
00:01:58 Leo: Yeah.
00:01:59 John Daub: So here is Akihabara. And next time you can go here. So where exactly is it? Let me see here on the map. So this is where it is. You see Suehirocho Station and you see Akihabara Station. And we're kind of in between there near a parking lot. And I saw it here before, but it's back.
00:02:26 John Daub: All right. There's no spoon. How do we eat this? I think we should eat at jii jii uchi (grandpa's house) or at home. I have a ramen spoon. Well, we're going to have to open this up and try to eat it.
00:02:49 Leo: Yeah.
00:02:50 John Daub: We're going to eat it. We didn't plan for this. All right. Come on to the corner here. Leo, come on over here. We're going to try our best to eat this and experience ramen in a can.
00:02:59 Leo: Yes.
00:02:59 John Daub: I've been looking forward to this for such a long time. So you do it on the street here. No, I thought I had some chopsticks. Now, historically in Akihabara, they had ramen in a can down the street about 100 meters. A lot of other YouTubers covered this about 10, 12 years ago, but they got rid of that. Now, maybe longer than that. But they got rid of that about, yeah, around 2011 or so. No, 2014 was the last time I saw ramen in a can over there. So this is a rebound. And this noodle company that makes this is up in Sendai. So I've done some research on it. However, there's no chopsticks. The other one came with chopsticks, I believe. All right. Let's open this up here.
00:03:50 Leo: Do you think it's going to be spicy?
00:03:52 John Daub: No.
00:03:53 Leo: Yeah.
00:03:55 John Daub: Yeah. Carrie, you got to come and try this too. What the? I smell it. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. That looks really good.
00:04:15 Leo: Good.
00:04:16 John Daub: It's spicy. It does. You want to try it?
00:04:19 Leo: Yeah.
00:04:20 John Daub: You try it. I think you can just drink it. I got to be honest with you. I think we can just drink it.
00:04:28 Leo: Yeah.
00:04:30 John Daub: Should we just drink it?
00:04:32 Leo: You drink it. It's spicy.
00:04:34 John Daub: All right. Come on over here. Why don't you drink it with me? Oh, wait. You want me to see if it's spicy?
00:04:39 Leo: Yeah.
00:04:40 John Daub: All right. Itadakimasu (let's eat). Itadakimasu. It's actually okay. Just a little bit spicy. But it's not big spicy. You want to try? It's pretty good, actually.
00:05:03 Leo: It's good?
00:05:04 John Daub: Yeah. All right. It's really good. Robin, thank you. Now we got to try the noodle. Actually, the broth is really, really good. The last ramen in a can just was like a shoyu base. It didn't really taste like ramen. This one is like a spicy miso ramen. So it's got that miso taste to it. Just slightly spicy. And apparently there's some menma (fermented bamboo shoots), which is kind of a mushroom in there. It's corn and negi (green onion). But I don't see any of the vegetables. Well, I don't see any of the vegetables. Okay. I'm going to try to get some noodles here. Ready? Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. No, no, no. Hey, that's pretty good.
00:06:01 John Daub: You want to try some?
00:06:02 Leo: Yeah.
00:06:02 John Daub: Okay. You want a long one or short one?
00:06:06 Leo: Long one.
00:06:07 John Daub: Long one? Okay. And we're doing it without making a mess. And that's most important. Always clean up after yourself. Suck it up.
00:06:32 Leo: It's still in your mouth.
00:06:37 John Daub: How is it? It's pretty good, right?
00:06:40 Leo: Yeah.
00:06:41 John Daub: Yeah. Oh, there's a piece of negi in here. So I would highly recommend this if you're going to be here. I'm going to show you what it looks like on the inside here. I would highly recommend this here. Whenever you do eat anything on the street, make sure. Oh, careful. Clean up after yourself. Make sure you don't leave anything behind. Keep the city of Tokyo spotless. And all cans can be recycled. All right. Let's pick up the trash. I brought a plastic bag to put that in.
00:07:18 Leo: Oh, yeah.
00:07:22 John Daub: And that's about it. What do you guys think? It's 550 yen. You could get a full bowl of... I should give this a proper... Leo, let's give this a proper review here. So I think ramen in a can, it's worth 550 yen just to try it. I really think it's worth trying it. The taste, definitely miso. Slightly spicy. Not overly so. I think they did that on purpose. Because if it was too spicy, then it could be a problem with some people. So you make it spicy enough to satisfy the people who don't want it too spicy and the people that want it overly spicy. But I want mine overly spicy. I got to be honest with you. So in a sense, it's good enough. But it still lacks in the spiciness in my opinion. But it's good enough for Japan. So I can highly recommend ramen in a can.
00:08:17 John Daub: There's your thumbnail. Do you want to be in the thumbnail?
00:08:20 Leo: Yeah.
00:08:21 John Daub: Okay. Hold this. Oh, hold on a second. He wants to be in the thumbnail too. Oh my goodness. Well, this is part of the channel history, Leo. Okay. Okay. Hold the can of ramen. Okay. Okay. And show the ramen can to the people. There you go. Hold on a second. Today we're taking the... Mommy's working, so we're doing the... Taking the day off.
00:08:55 Leo: Yeah.
00:08:56 John Daub: All right. Show the camera. Put the ramen right in the camera.
00:08:58 Leo: Okay.
00:08:59 John Daub: There you go. There you go. Very good. All right. So thumbs up or thumbs down? It was good, right?
00:09:06 Leo: Thumbs up.
00:09:07 John Daub: So if you're in Akihabara, try it. The map, it's closer to Suehirocho Station than it is Akihabara. But actually, it's not that far from the Gachapon Kaikan. So just go behind there from Chuo Dori and you'll find this parking lot. It just opened. You can see here. And that's where it is. Right there. Any questions?
00:09:32 Leo: Is it warm?
00:09:33 John Daub: Nagi writes in here. Is it warm? No, it's not. It's cold. And that's sort of a problem. But this is also... I think this could be a gift that you take back home too. Because, I mean, it's hard to make ramen broth at home. And the powder stuff, let's be honest, it's not that great. But if it's a can, I believe you could take that home, right? Back to your country. So this makes a pretty cool gift, I think. I might take one for my brother, actually. He really likes ramen. But ramen in a can is kind of a unique, bizarre idea. In fact, I will do that. Let's do that. So this is for my brother who likes ramen.
00:10:14 Leo: Should we get one for uncle?
00:10:16 John Daub: Yeah. Yeah, okay. All right, let's do that. You're still drinking it. Good for you. You want to push the button again? It's not taking this 100 yen, Leo. Why? Is this a counterfeit? What's wrong with it? Sometimes these older machines, they don't take... Oh, look, there's hoikuen (kindergarten). The basket of kids. Oh, no photo, sorry. They're in Akihabara. It's a sensitive thing. It's not taking it. That's a different one. Okay, I'm going to keep trying. I got a couple more in here. Maybe it just doesn't want it. I think it just doesn't like it. Let's try it again from the beginning. I think I got to put it... I got to put a 1000 yen note in there. They only take thousands here.
00:11:37 Leo: Okay.
00:11:48 John Daub: All right, ready? You want to push it?
00:11:50 Leo: Yeah.
00:11:51 John Daub: That's okay. You want to push it? You push it? You want to do it? I knew you wanted to do it.
00:11:55 Leo: Yeah, but how...
00:11:57 John Daub: All right. All right, so Uncle, we got you a can for... To take back to America. It's not too bad. Yeah, I recommend it. Aikin. Ooh, cold ramen. It doesn't taste that bad. It's just... It would be better if it was warmed up.
00:12:31 John Daub: I mean, Leo, it's like cold. Do you like cold ramen?
00:12:33 Leo: Yeah.
00:12:34 John Daub: Yeah. Yeah. Would you... But you'd eat it hot too, right?
00:12:41 Leo: I guess so.
00:12:42 John Daub: I like hot cold. Cold is better? How about tempura ramen?
00:12:46 Leo: I like tempura.
00:12:48 John Daub: He likes tempura. I think every kid likes tempura, but I've never heard... Tempura soba, but not tempura ramen. You have a little soup mustache. All right. All right, we've had enough of this. All right, if you have any questions, if you want to know where it is, you can let me know. I'll put a link in the description, maybe if I Google Map, but I made sure that the map was in there. There's a couple of other of these vending machines, but it's the cheaper 100 yen ones. You can see it says Sukima Department Inc., which is where...
00:13:22 John Daub: Leo, come to the side of the street here. I'm very, very cautious with that. You got to stay on the shoulder. There's not a lot of traffic here, but if you have any questions, you can leave in the comments below and I will do my very best to come back and answer, especially in the first 24 hours. Yesterday I took you... You got to go and see this. Leo, you want to... This is Niigata. I don't know. This is... I was on the Nagano-Niigata border yesterday. I drove out here. I took the drone and I got some shots. You guys can see the full video. I'm editing it right now, actually, hiking out in the countryside of Japan. This is yesterday. So, if you are in Japan, you might want to go check out into the countryside. It's so beautiful out there. I did a live stream from out there as well. And this video was dropped.
00:14:05 John Daub: Leo, are you in this video?
00:14:07 Leo: What did you say?
00:14:10 John Daub: This is the... This is the mame (beans). This is the mame. Yeah. This is very good.
00:14:14 Leo: Yeah.
00:14:15 John Daub: Leo is in there eating the food in the main channel video, so he was the star of that video. You're not going to see Leo in a lot of live streams, but I don't know. Today we just kind of wanted to eat ramen and relax, and he said he wanted to talk to everybody.
00:14:30 John Daub: You want to say anything to everybody?
00:14:32 Leo: No, no.
00:14:33 John Daub: No? You okay? What do you want to eat for lunch?
00:14:38 Leo: I don't know.
00:14:39 John Daub: I don't know either. Maybe burrito?
00:14:42 John Daub: All right. Take care, guys.
00:14:43 Leo: See you.
00:14:45 John Daub: See you.
00:14:48 Leo: Bye!
00:14:48 John Daub: Bye!