Originally Posted by
freecia
I think you can also buy cups of ice at a combini if you need some while away from your hotel. It is meant to make iced coffee, I believe? I often carry around sufficient bottled water in hot and humid weather but reduce the load a bit in Japan since I've even seen working vending machines in the middle of the sparsely populated deep countryside. I'm not always near a combini but a vending machine is usually nearby. Just be aware that trash cans are rare. I'd bring an insulated bottle if only to dump the ice/drink (with leftover hotel ice) into and recycle the cup/bottle at the combini trash area before leaving. City vending machines will usually have a bottle recycle bin with precise cutouts and no trash can.
I'm using a vacuum sealed, double-walled steel container so I won't throw it away. We usually bring a large 64oz canister for the hotel room ice. It works 10x better than the ice bucket hotels give and keeps ice for days. However, we have to pack smarter for a 2-week vacation so we'll use the cylinders for ice, at homebase and out and about.
Shoot, I bring the 64oz container in my pack when we hit the beach in Atlantis. Nothing like cold ice for drinks while on the sand.