Abe Deflation Fight Has Foes on Nearly Every Street Corner

They stand resolutely on street corners around Japan, proclaiming that deflation has not been vanquished, much as the Abe administration and the central bank have tried.

They are the country’s 5 million vending machines, and as anyone who has visited can attest, they are seemingly everywhere: from the capital’s vast network of train and subway stations, to Kyoto’s historic shrines and temples, to Okinawa’s remotest islands, and even on Mount Fuji. At about one for every 25 people, Japan has the most vending machines per capita in the world -- double the rate of the U.S.