TOKYO — Vending machines stocked with sodas are ubiquitous here, tucked away, it seems, in every nook and cranny of the country. They are found along Omotesando, the tree-lined shopping avenue known as the Champs-Élysées of Tokyo, and their glow lights up the back streets of hot spring towns like Hakone. They are even atop Mount Fuji, Japan’s 12,000-foot, snow-capped mountain.

The vending machines are also a symbol of the country’s big economic problem: deflation. The price of a soda in a vending machine has stubbornly remained the same for 15 years. Now, as back then, a can of Georgia Coffee, Pocari Sweat sports drink or Kirin Lemon soda typically sells for 120 yen, roughly $1.20. Some discount machines sell cans for as little as 80 yen, less than the price they fetched in the 1980s.

Since taking office in December, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made fighting deflation a priority, pumping the Japanese economy with cheap money and bolstering public spending in a bid to kick-start growth.

Such moves have helped stoke the prices of luxury goods like Ferraris, golf club memberships, prime real estate and vintage wines. But so far, the government’s efforts have not had much effect on everyday items, like a can of soda.