Convenience Stores in Japan

Convenience stores are everywhere in Japan.  Even in country side, you can find them easily.

I really think that Japanese convenience stores are really really convenient!  They open 24/7, so even on midnight or early morning you can get some nice drinks and food.  

They also sell books, magazines, cosmetics, medicines, alcohols, clothes (gloves, panties etc), stamps, cigaret  etc…  Starbucks brand coffee are also available.  You can order concert tickets, movie tickets, Christmas cakes etc through convenience stores, and send some parcels from convenience stores too.  And, you can do some payment at the counter.  Basically you can do anything there! 🙂

Convenience Store Food

The food in convenience stores are amazing.  Imagine, you sometimes order takeaway bento box from Japanese restaurants in Australia (or some other countries) and it usually costs more than $15.00.  You can get same type of food from convenience stores 24/7 at cheap price!  (eg: one typical bento box costs about 500 ~ 1000 yen)  They microwave the food if you wish, so you can eat it straight away.  They also sell bread, sandwiches, onigiri (rice balls), salad, pasta, pickles, noodle,  yoghurt, puddings, cakes, snacks….  and they cook some food there and sell at the counter too: eg karaage (deep-fried chicken), sausages, fried potatoes, etc etc.  Also niku-man, an-man (like Chinese pork buns, but in several flavors), oden (typical Japanese winter food)=only in winter), soft serves are available.

There are several kinds of convenience stores like Lawson, Seven Eleven, Family Mart, Circle K, Mini Stop, AMPM…  some convenience stores have point service : you can exchange the points to some products or service.  Since I go to Lawson and Seven Eleven so many times I applied for point cards!  (even though I was in Japan for just 3 weeks :p)