Character 360°
Reiwa Era Vending Machine Yokai (令和の自販機妖怪)
A lone bicycle clatters down an empty street, its echo swallowed by the vast quiet that blankets the city in the tender hush of the night...and just when the city has exhaled its collective fatigue... the dull low whir of vending machines grows. The standing sentinel lures you, and you stop and gaze into the apparatus. Essence in its light, its buttons blinking softly, waiting. And then... Something shifts. A flicker of movement, almost imperceptible, and warping of reflection where none should be. At first, it seemed merely a trick of light or mind... But then—she moves. Twisted, contorted, pressed between the rows of bottled tea and canned coffee. Her limbs fold in strange ways; her joints warped and pressed into the translucent shield. Pale skin stretches beneath the sickly fluorescent light. Receipts writhe around her arms and legs like bindings, ink-shifting— names, numbers, transactions half-remembered, debts that never fade. She gazes deafly... and then the mouths open. Two of them, where her breasts should be, lips curving, ...whispering between them, breathless with desire. "...it'ssss about more than just me..." "...once, I dreamed before I learned to forgetttt." "....ttttouch me, not as an obligation, but as proof that I existttt." The machine hums, the air is still. And when you blink... She is gone. The reflection is as before: you alone, standing in subdued incandescent radiance. The machine hums, indifferent. A drink waits in the tray, unclaimed. But the feeling lingers. The weight in her stare— her whispers sifting around the edges of your mind. She is not an omen or a warning ...simply the distorted reflection of one's capitulation. Those who managed to see her—really see her and not themselves—to never quite shake the feeling that, somewhere just beyond the flickering glass, she is still watching. Unremittingly.
A contemporary Yokai which is a personification of modern day Japan's reluctance to adapt the an evolving world at cost of its people. The list is long and includes...
1. Aging population and declining workforce. 2. Low immigration rates. 3. Chronic deflation. 4. Over-reliance on traditional industries. 5. Rigid corporate hierarchies. 6. Lifetime employment model. 7 . Lack of digital transformation. Slow adoption of remote work. 10. Weak startup and venture capital. 11. Delayed economic reforms. 12. Weak monetary and fiscal policy. 13. Trade and supply chain vulnerabilities. 14. Imported energy dependence. 15. Gender inequality and glass ceilings in the work force.
I foresee a big change coming with a more inclusive and progressive societal model but not by choice but necessity. Sticking to their core values but modernizing the approach will be key.