Konbini: Japanese convenience stores as food havens and anxiety relief centers
If you are planning your trip to Japan and hoping not to spend your entire life savings in two weeks, the chances are that at some point you will find yourself grabbing a bite at a convenience store. But it’s not only food: people will direct you toward konbinis to fulfill a whole range of consumer desires.
It might sound strange for tourists from the US and the UK, who have their own convenience stores and would never consider them worthy of tourist attention. In the UK, corner stores have nothing to do with ‘convenience’; their whole existence is rooted in desperation, emergency and the pure necessity that normally appears at 10:01pm, when all supermarkets close for the night and the UK turns into an empty wilderness. Their food selection is stuck in the bleakness of 1973, the drinks are twice as expensive as supermarket prices and will certainly give you a hangover for the next three days. Credit cards are only accepted for purchases over ten pounds; maybe five if you are lucky. Brits go to corner stores when everything else in the world has collapsed, but for ‘convenience’ they go to Tesco’s.
Americans might be even more surprised about the popularity of 7–11s in Japan. After all, they see 7–11s every day in the US: places that sell magenta or cyan-colored drinks, stale sandwiches, and something that might have resembled Mexican food a decade ago, but now looks like an archaeological discovery. However convenient 7–11 might be for drivers, no one would be so cruel as to suggest you get your lunch from there.
Japanese convenience stores are more like Amazon Prime (albeit with a more limited range) — right on your doorstep, open 24–7, with lots of healthy food options, and providing services that even Amazon Prime can’t offer (yet). The sheer range of ready meals and desserts at convenience stores will make you regret all the sad lunches you ate at your desk: there are bento boxes for less than ten bucks, there are tempura sets, noodles, sushi, vegetarian dishes, omelettes, odens, onigiri in every possible flavor and in another dozen of flavors you’ve never heard about. The range of desserts can easily rival any expensive French bakery in Los Angeles, but the price tag will be around 3–4 bucks, not $12. I ate at least three desserts a day (most of them from konbinis) while in Japan and I don’t regret anything.
Alcohol is sold 24 hours a day, so no salarymen will be left dry at 5am on a Wednesday, and the selection is not just limited to Sapporo and Asahi. When it comes to soft drinks, the choice is just bewildering and you should probably try everything. You think Coca Cola comes only in regular, Zero, and Diet? Think again. Maybe you want a sip of a Lemon Coke? Or lime-flavored Coca Cola? Orange Coke, anyone? There is even a clear Coke, however crazy it might sound. This spring was prime-time for peach-flavored Coca-Cola, which is a good gift for any ‘Call Me By Your Name’ fan (currently sold at Little Tokyo supermarkets in Los Angeles for twice the Japanese price).
This myriad of flavors has been key to the success of konbinis, since the first one opened in 1969. While convenience stores in the US and Europe are a dumping ground for everything that you wouldn’t buy sober, Japanese konbini chains actually work on the principle of developing the craziest flavor combinations that will keep bringing customers back to try something new. While being revolutionary, konbinis also cater to people who want to try Japanese regional food — any convenience store at any train station will have a huge selection of local specialties. Basically, anyone who likes eating (who doesn’t?) should put konbini stores on their food radar.
But konbinis are so much more than just a cheap food heaven. You need to withdraw cash from your foreign credit card? 7–11. You need to buy tickets to Ghibli Museum? Lawson. You need to make a copy of your passport or print some pictures and send them to your grandma in Montana? Any convenience store. You need to pick up a package and pay the electricity bill? Just walk to your local konbini. You need to check the location of the best takoyaki stand in Osaka, but roaming will bankrupt you? Most konbini stores have free wifi. Urgent bathroom break? Konbini. Need to throw away your trash? Japan is famous for its lack of street trash cans, but convenience stores have you covered. Want to spend an hour browsing through Japanese manga without buying anything? Find your local konbini and start reading. It’s your extended living room (and kitchen) outside of your house. People in Japan know that most of their everyday needs can be covered by konbinis.
It is this familiarity that makes konbinis integral to the Japanese urban experience. However used we are now to urban living, cities like Tokyo have lives of their own, their growth and changes have long been beyond the control of any human being or city council. With the average Japanese building being torn down after only 30 years of use, and with constantly growing metropolitan areas, cities like Tokyo become incomprehensible, faceless, and, thus, alienating. To feel less threatened by uncharted landscapes, people need something in common with wherever they are coming from; they need to find some familiar pattern. And the 50,000-strong network of konbinis all over Japan provides a great sense of connection to previously unknown places for Japanese and foreigners alike; becoming not only disaster relief centers, but also retreats against urban alienation. In the end, all you need to feel comfortable in a new place is a bathroom, wi-fi, and some good food.
