ATM-A terrible mess 

ATM-A terrible mess

ATMs, holes in the wall, the last port of call for that all imporant emergency injection of cash. In Britain they are everywhere, leaving some towns more holes than walls. When one`s already generous budget for more than a few beers is outspent, the trusted ATM supplies the monetary boost for that essential premptive hangover cure, the kebab. Or take an average shopping trip, once again it is the ATM, that miraculous money-giving machine, that coughs up the notes. ATMs provide a saintly facade for the murky business of debt accumulation, but they are almost integral to the functioning of a healthy society.

Which is why it is even more strange that in Japan, ATMs aren`t holes in walls, they are holes behind doors. And when you most need them, those doors are invariably shut. Yes, ATMs, bastions of convenience, are bound by the fetters of strict opening hours. In a country that has so many vending machines one would be hard pushed ever to be more than a fifty metre walk from a bottle of Pocari Sweat it seems strange that when it comes to cash, all you can ever get is cold turkey. It`s saturday morning in a busy commuter town, you need money to buy a train ticket in order to get to work, in order to earn money, to put in your bank account, to withdraw from ATMs at your leisure. The automatic door remains automatically shut. How terribly annoying.