Tateishi Burger, Tokyo: Dopest hamburger vending machine in Japan

Tateishi Burger is a legendary hamburger shop in Japan. Its primitively-engineered hamburger vending machine offers handmade hamburgers and more. *I last visited this place in 2021.

Vending machines in Japan are something. It seems that anything is eligible to debut as a vending machine as long as products fit into the vending machine: liquors, character figures, ramen, flying fish broth, offals, and on and on. It’s like a never-ending meme on a Japanese street.

Given the situation, a hamburger vending machine in Japan doesn’t sound crazy at all; there are already some. As of the early 2020s, Tateishi Burger, in Tokyo, is considered exceptional.

The store front of Tateishi Burger (the ground floor).

Tateishi Burger is considered a hamburger shop offering handmade hamburgers (there was a time when Tateishi Burger claimed to be a pizza parlor). Whatever the theme of the establishment is, its primitively-engineered hamburger vending machine tends to catch more attention than its hamburgers. This situation has made Tateishi Burger one of the most famous hamburger shops in Tokyo.

The primitively-engineered hamburger vending machine at Tateishi Burger.

A sign below the hamburger vending machine says “open” in Japanese.

The hamburger vending machine functions as a menu. There were 4 items: Chicken burger, Pizza bread (pizza ingredients on a toast. It was a fried egg on a photo), Yakiniku burger (yakiniku means Korean Japanese BBQ. I would say “teriyaki steak sandwich”), and Tateishi burger (a hamburger).

From left: Chicken burger, Pizza bread, Yakiniku burger, and Tateishi burger. ¥100/$0.80 for each.

Curious customers trying to buy Tateishi burger.

A view from inside.

Eating Tateishi burger at the counter of Tateishi Burger.

The hamburger consists of a hand-made beef patty, onions, lettuce, ketchup, and a homemade bun. It tasted ok. It was a good homemade sandwich that could almost beat my American friend’s grandmother’s quick turkey sandwich with lettuce and mayo. I don’t know how the competition will go if the grandmother starts to charge. The hamburger was that good.

I was the only customer eating inside.

Tateishi Burger is sometimes considered the hamburger vending machine itself, but it’s a functioning eatery.

Inside Tateishi Burger was like a lair of its chef with worn kitchen equipment in an unidentifiable-yet-stirring space that could look like a cafe, a bar, an izakaya (sort of a Japanese pub), a shokudo (sort of a Japanese diner), or The Upside Down in Stranger Things.

I managed to stay safe in the human world eating at the counter of Tateishi Burger. No one was harmed or eaten except for my lukewarm hamburger. Beside the counter was a humble showcase with 2 more pieces of Tateishi burger and a loaf of homemade bread (¥300/$2.30). I was tempted. And then suddenly, Tateishi Burger started to look like a Japanese bakery.