4th Hypothesis:
There are also many vending machines in Japan that dispense meal tickets
(mainly in ramen restaurants). A possible reason for this could be to keep the cooks hands
clean and ensure hygienic standards. In small ramen shops that do not employ many people,
the employment of one more person to handle a cash register may be a big cost for the store.
Economic incentives to lowering labour costs may be especially strong in these types of small
businesses.
I went to interview a ramen store owner which is located just a few minutes from the ICU
JOMO exit. The owner said he installed the food ticket dispensers when the restaurant was
opened. The biggest reason for having a vending machine in his restaurant was that hands
of the people who work there get really oily and therefore too dirty to touch money. If they
did not have a vending machine then they would have to wash their hands often. Other reason
was that because of the loud ventilation, it would be very hard to hear people’s orders. Vending
machine dispenses tickets with the orders written.
The meal ticket vending machine
