Japan Tips: How to Order Meal From a Ticket Vender

As you might have learned after all the vending machines we have introduced, Japan is a land of technology.

Some of them might be so stunning that you can’t even figure out how to use it.

One of them is the ticket vending machine established in many ramen shops or beef-bowl chains. So, how exactly do we order our meal using this ticket vender?

Here’s Brian from Ramen Adventures explaining how it is done!

Now, here are some advices from Fun Japan to “master” the art of vending machine.

1. Always Have Some 1000yen Bills

Keep in mind that some vending machines don’t accept bills greater than 5000yen, so it’s safe to have a couple of 1000yen notes in your wallet. 

Even if you don’t, like suppose you only have a 10,000yen bill, you could ask the employee to change it for you.

2. Choose Your Meal Fast!!

Beware that the machine will return the bill if you take too long to decide. To prevent this, you might want to choose what you want before inserting your money. If you can’t quite understand what they are, make sure to ask an employee.

Also, many of these places have options for extra topping on the lower half of the menu board. If you’d like to try a new topping, be sure to pay attention to them as well!

3. Be Prepared to Answer Some Fundamental Questions!

In some ramen shops, the employee would ask you a few questions about your preference. For instance, you get to choose how soft or hard you want to noodles to be cooked, as well as the thickness of the soup, or the portion of the meal.

If the employee asks you something in Japanese when you give them the ticket, it’s most likely one of these three that they are asking for.

Unless you have a strong preference, like a huge appetite, we advise you to simply say “futsuu de onegai shimasu”, which means “just the regular one, please”.

If you want to ask for a huge portion, say “Oomori”, which means “Large-size”.

Hope this guide helps you have a superb time here in Japan the next time you visit!

If you want to see more videos about Japan, be sure to check Yummy Japan on YouTube!