The above are two pics I took inside a small noodle shop in the Ginza District of Tokyo, Japan. When a customer to this noodle shop walks in, they are greeted by the above machine. They pick the menu item they want, pay for it, and receive a ticket that they then hand to the cooks behind the counter. Within minutes a steaming bowl of delicious noodles is sitting in front of them. Thirsty? There’s a water cooler looking machine that dispenses hot green tea and water, along with glasses.

Rather than providing a large menu that might cause questions of what the shop does or does not serve, the machine explains it all. And for we who cannot read Japanese, there are pictures. There is also one outside the shop, in case you want to look before stopping in.

We ate at this noodle shop three times within four days.

If you have a communication problem, figure out how to remove the barrier. To enable the flow, look to remove, not add.

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