Coffee, sandwiches, underwear, beer: a day in the life of Japan's konbini

Japan is known to be generally good at logistics, and you could say there is a software aspect to that. Robotics and machine control are also a traditional strength. My own experience is that their big weakness is interfacing with the user, whether it is red tape at an office or a complex GUI.

Maybe the explanation is that Japanese institutions perform well when development is wholly internal and allowed a long time. My own experience has been that Japanese groups attack tasks with superior organization, but they need extra time to adapt to novel input.

Japan also seems to make pretty decent games, and manages to export them to eager fans around the globe. (Nintendo just being the most visible example.)

Enterprise software is almost universally pretty terrible, and yet corporate world is running smoothly. That's because, at the end of the day, the quality of life of the users (employees) does not matter that much, they adjust and cope to get their work done.

> steak and cheese roller from 7-11

I don't think i've ever seen one where i live (san jose), just some sad-looking hot dogs. I think there is just a ton fewer choices in 7-11s here compared to Japan. And mostly really garbage unappetizing dry things like cup ramen (two-three flavors tops), cans, crackers, basically a scant selection of things that can preferably sit on that shelf forever. In the Japanese ones it felt like a ton more choice (even for junk food), and a bit more fresh stuff like onigiri.

Thing, Japan

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/thing-japan

Honestly, when going on holiday to the USA the 7 11 hot dog full of onion and sauces has been one of the best junk food we've ever had

I mean no, a tuna onigiri is real tuna in fresh rice. Which is not like hitting all your micronutrients but is just relatively healthy. Similarly you can wash that down with unsweetened green tea (so hard to find outside of japan). Snacks that healthy are hard to come by in western convenience stores. You could also of course go for some sort of milkshake abomination and a famichiki and then maybe you're right. But you have decent amounts of choice.

I like that convenience food is quick and tasty

the food i've gotten at konbini in japan is on par with specialty gas stations, such as KwikTrip, Casey's, Wawa or Buc-ees in the US. I don't trust food at my 7-11 at home. in japan they get shipments of fresh food _at least_ daily. Soba, onigiri, sandwiches aren't necessarily junk food but they had plenty of those options as well. The US is only junk food.

Are they cheap, though? I often avoid going to shops the like of GS25, Żabka or 7/11, because the prices are often 125%-150% the normal supermarket price.

They also have clean and free restrooms. My Japan trip was such a pleasure as I was able to walk ~20km a day without ever stressing about needing to pee. Contrast to most US/EU cities where I burn so much time urgently trying to find a bathroom or else I stop hydrating and feel crappy.

In my experience, that's not unique to just konbinis though. Granted, I've only been to large cities, but cheap, convenient, delicious food is available from many types of stores/vendors/take away/etc.

Maybe it's just the big cities, but I think maybe this part of the world just demands this from anyone selling food. If you aren't providing this quality, you won't stay in business because there's too much competition that is.

Is it also cheap for the average Japanese person? I assume we’re all just chatting away about mostly western standards given that HN is an English platform

What I like about the uk mini stores is that you have healthy options and I mean balanced foods with veg and clear color coded signage of it's nutrition like salt, saturated fat, calories, 5 a day etc. In Japan kombinis have no fresh veg, any pre made food has nothing fresh or green in it (or very very little) and it's generally more difficult to find fresh things in the big cities that I've been in Japan. Fruit? Same story but a lot more expensive although much tastier but sometimes having an option is better even if it's underpar.

Most products in a UK corner shop are of poor quality. I wouldn't touch their sandwiches with a bargepole.

Contrast to Japan where you can get a fresh, good quality, tasty meal from the fridges and the hot cabinet. The 7/11 fruit smoothies are great.

The appropriate comparison to the UK is probably Greggs, and Greggs is still losing that battle.

I would compare them with AH to go or the smaller city supermarket chain Spar.

One of the nice things of living in a hyper densely populated country is that it becomes economically viable to have supermarkets every few miles. Japan still is vastly superior in the 24 hour economy though. In the Netherlands most supermarkets close at 9 or 10pm.

Here's a great example of that: Couche-Tard, the biggest québécois dépanneur chain, is in the process of a hostile takeover of 7-11. That's how much money they have, they can afford to buy the worldwide flagship corner store. This has turned into a nightmare for the Japanese, who don't want to see their beloved 7-11 fall in the hands of grubby westerners.

https://globalnews.ca/news/10867357/7-eleven-couche-tard-bid...

On top of that the convenience stores in Sweden (and many other countries) also work as pick-up spots for packages, the concept of porch pirates is absolutely alien to me because of that.

I don't have to care that my package is sitting outside my door, or a delivery courier in a rush threw it haphazardly in the general direction of my house to move quicker to their next drop-off. I just pass by a convenience store nearby and pick it up, they will hold it for me for about 7-10 days so there's not even a rush to do it.

Gas stations in the US offer such things too, but it's typically the larger ones attracting interstate traffic, not the little ones in the middle of towns.

You can also buy (or pick up) concert tickets, print out documents (including official government documents), pick up package deliveries, and in some places ship items you sold on Mercari.

Steam gift cards are a thing everywhere.

And so you can in Żabka.

Not to be confused with QuickTrip, another major chain with significant Midwestern presence.

Couche-Tard is atrociously bad compared with 7-Eleven:

- expensive - literally any other 'deppaneur' will give a better price

- poor selection of 'food' - it's only carbs, i.e. muffins, croissants. ( no chicken or onigiri or ramens )

- poor selection of beers - mostly cheap brands sold x2, independent deppaneurs sometimes carry craft/micro.

Seems that even Montreal has not enough density to justify any meaningful food in deppaneurs.