May 16th was a day like any other on the platform of Koiwa Station in Tokyo.  But for a Musician/DJ who goes by the name Soeda Dyjean, a simple purchase of a bottle of water turned into a one-way ticket – to the Twilight Zone.

As Soeda placed his prepaid Suica card in front of the sensor and pressed the button for a bottle of water he heard that familiar “glunk” as it dropped to the bottom receptacle.  However as he looked down to retrieve it he was shocked to find some kind of futuristic technology lodged where his refreshing drink should have been.

In fear of being late for an engagement, he quickly snapped a photo of the device and boarded his train.  Afterwards, he posted it on the internet with the account of his brush with something beyond our comprehension.

The reaction was huge with plenty of LOLs to go around, but some comments illustrated the most disturbing part of this story.  What the hell is that thing and why did it drop out of the machine?

Sharing these concerns, your fearless reporter immediately went into the mouth of madness and interview the man who found the device himself.


Q1: Could you tell me what this remote was?

Soeda:  I got a lot of crazy responses but many people told me “It’s a controller for the settings of the vending machine.”  If so, I guess some maintenance guy must have gotten chewed out for that.

Q2: I see, sounds like some trolls to me. And why did this “controller” come out of the machine?

Soeda:  Dunno, but I’d like to hear the answer too…

Q3: Interesting.  After your ordeal, what became of the water you bought?

Soeda:  I didn’t get it.  The machine just ate my money.  I – I had to ride the train with a parched throat…

(At this point both interviewer and interviewee broke down under the gravity of the situation and took a 30 minute break to recompose ourselves.)

Q4: I’m sorry to make you relive this, but just one more question if I may.  Could you tell us what was going through your mind while all this was happening to you?

Soeda:  I can remember thinking “Aww. I’m in a rush…” That and 110 yen (US$1.40) wasn’t too high a price for this mildly interesting experience.  Looking back on it all, I just hope some maintenance person didn’t get in too much trouble over all this.

And so, with no solid answers, what that thing was or how it got into the machine will forever remain shrouded in mystery.  Was it left by visitors from another world? Or perhaps time travelers?

Usually people in Soeda’s situation would have picked up the device, discovered its magical powers, abused them, and finally be punished for their hubris in an ironic twist ending. But this man resisted the urge to go deeper into the cliché sci-fi plot so that he could be on time and had to suffer a somewhat dry throat as a result.  May we all be that strong.

Source: Soeda Dyjean’s Website (Japanese)

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[Read in Japanese]