While browsing online discussions from people planning trips to Japan, I kept noticing the same topic coming up:
Japanese convenience stores.
Some people ask, “What should I eat at a convenience store in Japan?” Others ask, “Which is better: 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, or Lawson?”
As someone who lives in Japan, I found this very strange.
Of course, convenience stores are useful. You can buy drinks, meals, and everyday necessities, and there are ATMs inside.
But they are also such an ordinary part of life here that you can often find several of them just by walking around for a few minutes.
So the idea that people were researching convenience stores before even coming to Japan surprised me.
I decided to take another look at Japanese convenience stores—and at how travelers from overseas actually see them.
“What Should I Eat at a Japanese Convenience Store?”
One question I kept seeing online was:
“What should I eat at a convenience store in Japan?”
That question genuinely surprised me.
But the answers were even more interesting.
And apparently, the same answers come up again and again.
Egg sandwiches.
Famichiki.
Tuna mayo onigiri.
…What?
You came all the way to Japan. Surely there are other things you should be eating.
There’s sushi. Ramen. Yakiniku. Tempura.
And yet people planning trips to Japan are seriously discussing things like, “Which convenience store has the best egg sandwich?”
As a Japanese person, I still find this a little strange.
And They Don’t Go Just Once
As I kept looking, I found plenty of people who went to convenience stores again and again during their trips.
Some went almost every day.
Some stopped by the convenience store near their hotel at night.
Others made a point of trying not just 7-Eleven, but FamilyMart and Lawson too.
Don’t you get bored going that often?
That made me think about the products I normally see in convenience stores.
Take the ice cream section.
Even ice cream alone comes in a surprisingly large variety. The same is true for onigiri, sandwiches, drinks, and desserts.
And the selection doesn’t stay the same for long.
At 7-Eleven Japan, for example, around 100 products are launched every week.
Then there are the labels you see everywhere:
“New”
“Limited Time”
“Seasonal”
In autumn, products made with chestnuts and sweet potatoes start appearing. By winter, they are replaced by something else.
Living in Japan, I never really thought much about this.
Maybe products change so often that I simply never had a reason to notice.
But when I actually thought about it, there are a lot of choices—and those choices are constantly changing.
I was starting to understand why someone might want to go more than once.
And it isn’t only international travelers who are attracted to limited-time products.
Japanese people are too.
If something is always available, it’s easy to think, “I’ll get it next time.”
But put “limited time” on it, and suddenly:
Maybe I should get it now.
Maybe “limited time only” works on all of us.
Going to a Convenience Store Can Be a Travel Memory?
There was one more thing that surprised me.
When international travelers talked about Japanese convenience stores, they weren’t always just talking about how good the food was.
They talked about walking to the convenience store near their hotel at night.
Buying snacks and drinks they had never seen before.
And somehow, those completely ordinary moments became part of their memories of Japan.
Going to a convenience store can become a travel memory?
But then I realized something about myself.
When I travel abroad, I actually enjoy visiting local supermarkets.
I look at foods I’ve never seen in Japan, get surprised by ridiculously flashy snack packaging, and find myself curious about drinks whose flavors I can’t even imagine.
To the people who live there, it’s just a supermarket.
But to me, it’s interesting.
Thinking about it that way, I can understand a little better how browsing unfamiliar products in a Japanese convenience store, buying a few things, and taking them back to the hotel can become part of the travel experience.
Writing this article made me crave an egg sandwich, so I ended up running to the convenience store to get one.
Yeah. It’s still good.
