When you’re thirsty for something different, this unusual machine has you covered.

There are many vending machines to be found around Japan, but after you’ve been here awhile, you’ll come to realise they mostly contain the same mix of drinks, with water, teas, soft drinks and coffees being the most common options.

However, if you know where to look you can find some unusual surprises, and one place that those in the know head to is a quiet corner in Tokyo’s JR Ikebukuro Station.

Here, you’ll find a bright yellow machine with a large sign on top that reads…

▼ …Soy Milk Vending Machine.

As the sign suggests, this machine is solely dedicated to soy milk. Even more impressive is the fact that amongst all the options inside, there are no double-ups, with a whopping 36 varieties to choose from.

▼ It would take you five weeks and a day to try everything in the machine if you stopped by on a daily basis.

Made by Japanese company Kikkoman, these soy milk packs are incredibly popular around Japan, but to see so many different varieties in one place is a rare treat, especially for soy milk lovers. The flavours in the lineup sound so appealing that even newbies will be tempted to give them a go.

▼ The hot options include: almond, kinako (roasted soybean flour), roasted barley coffee, cafe mocha, matcha…

▼…as well as chai tea and black tea (earl grey tea flavour).

The cold lineup is even more extensive, containing cocoa, annin dofu (an almond-flavoured white jelly dessert), tropical fruits, cookies and cream, black sesame, almond…

▼ …Mixed Fruit, Peach, Melon, Mango, Strawberry…

▼…affogato, chocolate banana, dark chocolate, pudding, and vanilla ice cream.

▼ There are also sugar-free options, in almond, coffee, tea, and sweetened varieties.

▼ Then there are enriched packs with added iron, calcium, and fibre.

Rounding out the range are extra rich, unsweetened, sweetened, unsweetened with large soybeans from Hokkaido, and a concentrated variety called “Tounyuu Icchou” (tounyuu is “soy milk”), which uses the counter for tofu (chou) to impart the sensation of drinking a block of tofu.

Our reporter Seiji Nakazawa drinks soy milk every day so this vending machine discovery was a happy discovery for him. It opened his eyes to a wider variety of flavours he never knew existed, and he couldn’t resist trying the chocolate banana flavour for 120 yen (US$0.76).

Despite containing one percent fruit juice, the banana flavour was beautifully pronounced, with a smooth sweetness that made this drink taste more like a delicious dessert. It was both rich in texture and yet easy to drink, going down smooth and leaving the palate with a refreshing aftertaste.

▼ Seiji likens the experience to drinking a fancy beverage at Starbucks.

If you’ve only ever tried plain soy milk before, these flavoured varieties will blow your mind and open your eyes to a whole new world of possibilities. First installed at Shinjuku Station in 2024, the vending machine has already exploded in popularity, expanding to three other Japan Rail stations – Tokyo, Ikebukuro, and Ueno – in November last year.

If you’re keen to dip your toe in and wondering which varieties to try, the chocolate banana drink Seiji tried was the second best-selling item of the year at the first machine at Shinjuku Station. With Chai Tea taking third place, Dark Chocolate fourth place and Black Tea in fifth, the top seller in first place was…Affogato. So next time you’re looking for an unusual vending machine in Tokyo, keep an eye out for the soy milk machine, which, at Ikebukuro Station, is located next to the New Days convenience store after entering through the JR South ticket gate, in the passageway on the way to the Saikyo Line.

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