What I Talk About When I Talk About Konbini

January 8, 2014 by Lenna 50 Comments

One of my favorite things to come out of Japan is the Japanese konbini (convenience stores). During my time in Tokyo, I made habitual trips to the local konbini. I could always count on finding everything I needed from household goods to my favorite snacks. One day when I was walking home from the station, a man on a bicycle coming from the opposite direction was waving at me, and he turned out to be the evening shift cashier at the Daily Yamazaki on my street. He came to recognize me because I spent about 210 yen on a carton of Lipton Milk Tea and Alfodo Chocolate almost every night for a year. With instances such as this, the konbini can provide a welcoming atmosphere, and these little gems of convenience have created a competitive niche market for itself in Japanese Society.

You Want It, They’ve Got It

Photo by Yuya Tamai

It seems that the selling point of the Japanese konbini is that they really cater to provide daily life conveniences for the community. If you are hungry, go buy some snacks at the konbini. Thirsty? Go to the konbini. Need to make a copy or send a fax? Go to the konbini. Is it raining and you’ve forgotten your umbrella at a train station somewhere? Pick up another one at the next konbini you see. Need to deliver or pick up a package? Konbini. The Japanese konbini are also relatively inexpensive, and that is one of the reasons why they are so great.

Aside from the traditional japanese snacks, breads, and ice creams, you can also expect to buy meals ranging from single onigiri to microwaveable yakisoba meals or assorted bento. And they will offer to heat it up for you. Some stores even have oden available in the winter seasons. Of course, you can also find sodas, sports drinks, and teas as well as alcohol. Additionally, they carry other useful items that one may need all of a sudden. For example, shampoos and conditioners, hair brushes, stationary, hygeine products (male and female), cosmetics, small articles of clothing, and cell phone chargers and batteries just to name a few.

Photo by chrishimself

They also sell a variety of magazine and manga for anybody to come in and read while needing to kill time, and tachiyomi (reading while standing) at a konbini or manga kissaten has become a popular pastime. This informal service is accompanied by many formal services as well. The konbini also makes it convenient for people to make copies and send faxes, to pay bills and set up money transfers, and buy tickets for events like sports games, and attractions such as Tokyo Disneyland or museums. They have ATM machines for cash withdrawal and the 7-Elevens in Japan are also associated with their own bank, Seven Bank Ltd. Their role in society has become to stand as everybody’s one-stop shop for day to day needs.

Stiff Competition

Photo by Yuya Tamai

Recorded statistics from the Japan Franchise Association showed that as of August 2009 there were 42,345 convenience stores throughout Japan. 7-Eleven was leading the market with 12,467 stores, Lawson was in second with 9,562 stores, and Family Mart in third with 7,604 stores. Other major competitors include AM/PM, Circle K Sunkus, Daily Yamazaki, and MiniStop. That total number from 2009 is larger in comparison to the most recently recorded statistics about convenient stores in the U.S. According to the Association for Convenience and Fuel Retailing, the number of convenience stores in America increased to 149,220 as of December 31, 2012. Which marked a 0.7% (or 1,094 store) increase since the previous year.

Many of these companies had their start in the U.S. and are now more prominent in the Japanese market than in the American market. For example, Japan is now 7-Eleven’s largest market with approximately one-third of its stores located in and around Japan. And AM/PM Japan was recently acquired by Family Mart in 2009.

Location, Location, Location

Photo from RocketNews

One of my favorite aspects of the Japnese-style konbini is that they are everywhere. The sheer number of konbini that can be found on any given street is impressive. If you can’t find what you want at one of the stores, guaranteed, one of the other ones a block away will have what you want, particularly in more densely populated cities. For example, on the street in between my train station and my dorm building in Hiyoshi, there were five possible konbini that I could choose from: 7-Eleven, Family Mart, AM/PM, Lawson, and a Daily Yamazaki. And that was only on one of the main streets from one of the exits.

The CEO of 7-Eleven Japan has been quoted as having explained that the company’s business model centers on area domination, focusing on one small area and opening numerous stores there. This method of opening in clusters in areas predicted to bring in large revenue helps keep costs at a minimum and increases competition in new areas. Currently, there are no 7-Eleven stores in Shikoku, Japan as can be seen via a search in Google Maps. There are news reports that the company will begin to move in though, and are aiming to open 520 new stores by February 2019 throughout all four prefectures of Shikoku.

You have them in America?

The convenience stores in America are known for selling a variety of drinks, small snacks like candy, chips, Slim Jims, beef jerky, some household goods, hygiene products, and can be commonly paired with gas stations. Also, don’t forget your Big Gulps.

Photo by Yuya Tamai

As a personal preference, I think the meals sold at the Japanese konbini taste much better and hold a better variety of foodstuff, but one of the main differences seems to be accessibility. The Japanese konbini are located in areas where it is easily accessible to everybody, and that is not necessarily the case in America. Visiting a konbini in America always seems to require a drive, long walk, or big wait between gas stations on a long car ride.

A long time ago on a family trip to Japan, a topic regarding 7-Eleven came up in conversation at which point my cousin asked, “you have those in America?” And my cousin is not the only one. I have come across more than a few people who did not know that companies such as AM/PM and 7-Eleven were American companies. That is just how integrated the konbini culture has become in Japanese society. Interestingly, even Lawson (the number two konbini operator behind 7-Eleven) started as an American company. J.J Lawson started his store in Akron, Ohio to sell milk in the 1930s, and now that milk jar logo can be seen all throughout Japan. Since then, Lawson Station has opened up a Japanese-style store in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Photo by MIKI Yoshihito

And if my cousin were to ask me now whether or not we had 7-Eleven stores in America, I could still answer yes. However, I would not be able to say that it is still an American company because as of November 2005, the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Seven Eleven Japan Co., Ltd and its affiliates. That just goes to show the power and success that Japanese konbini have compared to their American counterparts.

More Konbini Please

Photo by Yuya Tamai

I love the Japanese-style konbini markets and I wish more would come to the U.S. If I could, I would work on a petition to bring Lawson Station to my neighborhood so that I would only have a short walk from my house to the konbini whenever I needed everyday items… or milk tea. I find it interesting that although the word “コンビニ” in Japanese is a borrowed, foreign word and that the concept is not of Japanese origin. The “konbini” is a Japanese phenomenon which is found to be very attractive, particularly by foreigners, in my opinion. If you find yourself in Japan, I am sure that the konbini experience will be a part of your stay, and for those living in Japan, I urge you to use your local konbini often. Who knows, maybe you too will even become friends with your local konbini cashiers.

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About Lenna

Lenna, founder and blogger at Inner Aspen is from LA. She loves books, milk tea, and watching Studio Ghibli films, and spent a year studying abroad in Tokyo during college.

John Stevens

I love the konbini! I grew fond of Family Mart during my stay in Yokohama last year.

Also, I had a friend from Japan visit this past summer and he was very surprised to see a 7/11 here.
DeTo-13

Our petrol stations sell some pretty usefull stuff these days in england. If we had shops like that down normal residential roads though there would be kids with stolen umbrellas and stuff round every corner haha.

Thats a good way to judge a shop thinking about it, If it sells chocolate bars and sweets and its not a big supermarket, petrol station or attatched to a post office you’re not going to find much else exept food in there.
linda lombardi

It is not just your personal preference that the food at Japanese konbini is better than in the US. This is a matter of scientific fact. Whenever I return from a trip to Japan, the sight of a US 7-11 store makes me want to weep – it looks the same from the outside, but it is a cruel hoax.
PJace

I love Lawsons and all such conbini while in Japan, but the Lawsons at home in Hawaii doesn’t quite work out as well. Everything is too horribly overpriced for local competition, but hopefully the tourists enjoy it.
Aquila

I loved the konbini stores. The food was much better than in the US and they were always clean. Generally, I thought 7-11 had the best food of all the konbini’s, but the natural Lawsons were also very good.
http://myshashin.tumblr.com TicTaek

This is awesome. Any conbini in Japan is an infinite times better compared to Canadian ones, aside from the fact that slushes are almost impossible to find in Japan.

My fav has to be the Hokkaido only Seicomart. Gah, love the Katsudon there.
boomfantasticbaby

Oh, I miss these so much. There was a Family Mart seriously like 2 minutes away from my host family…
The onigiri… the magazines… the umbrellas… T_T
walker

+1 “the sight of a US 7-11 store makes me want to weep – it looks the same from the outside, but it is a cruel hoax.”

my first visit to an australian 7-11 after 2.5 months in japan was a moment of culture shock – they want _how_much_ for a crappy sandwich? and only 3 flavours? and where are the bento, the onigiri, the chu-hi? someone teleport me out of here!
walker

kombinis are an example of when japan gets something completely right. as a tourist, i ate from them more often than i probably should admit, for the pure .. convenience – something australian operators don’t get right at all. here, a convenience store will be located only on a major street, has a very limited inventory, and will charge somewhere around 30-50% more for their goods than a regular supermarket (yet when i saw bars of imported australian chocolate in a tokyo lawson, they cost less than many australian supermarkets would charge – and that’s after import costs … huh?).

lawson has the best food offerings, in my opinion. but even the crappiest kombini food is better than most things you’ll get in an aussie “convenience” store. meat pies and microwave hot dogs are the best you can hope for, here. and don’t forget the pastry range of most kombini … i want a chocolate croissant at 3am, dammit! and chu-hi!

i miss kombini. i miss japan.
Dan Cowell

I think my best konbini moment was when a screw fell out of one of the chairs in my kitchen. I don’t know what passes for a hardware store here in Japan, but I went downstairs to my local Lawson and found a 10-piece screwdriver set sitting on a shelf. They literally have anything you could possibly need!
Lenna Stites

I agree! After returning home from Japan, I am never impressed by an American 7-11. hah thanks for backing up this article as scientific fact~ =)
Lenna Stites

are the 7-11 stores in Australia significantly more expensive? What other stuff do they sell there? It’s interesting to compare the stores in different locations. I’m really only familiar with Asia and North America at this point.
Lenna Stites

haha, that is a great story. That would be a difficult convenience to top! Thanks for sharing! I don’t know that I have ever been unable to find what I need at a konbini.
RaynoG

You missed out the best thing by far about konbini: you can get you packages sent to them. Whenever I order anything from amazon or rakuten, I just send it to the local Lawson and pick it up after work. It is easily the thing I will miss the most if/when I leave.
Lenna Stites

Lawson is my go-to in Japan! I definitely stopped at the konbini more often that I should admit as well. My daily routine involved at least 1 stop to the konbini to buy some milk tea and chocolate – but I do not regret it!
Lenna Stites

I share your feelings! Definitely the umbrellas. Those have saved me more than a few times. Konbini seem to be very strategic about where they open their stores.
Lenna Stites

I haven’t had a chance to really explore Hokkaido, but I will look out for it the next time I get to go up there! I don’t recall seeing slushes in Japan either now that I think about it. But then again, I didn’t eat them all that frequently out here in the states either! Thanks for commenting =)
Lenna Stites

I agree that the food is much better than in the US, but then again, I might be more partial to Japanese food in general so Japan never disappointed. My cousin’s family actually owned a 7-11 in Japan – definitely a good selection of food, especially when they sold Oden.
Lenna Stites

aww that’s a bit sad to hear! :( I was hoping that everything would have been kept the same as though they had just lifted one from Japan and brought it to Hawaii. Do they sell the same goods as in Japan or is everything adjusted to fit the American market? Perhaps that is what happened to the price as well.
Lenna Stites

I think it’s interesting how the convenience stores have created a niche market for themselves. They may sell similar things to other supermarkets but they are distinguishable as their own speciality shops. I’ll look out for what the petrol stations in England sell when I get a chance to visit! (Which I hope is very very soon! I would love to go to England!)
Lenna Stites

there is something very comforting, I think, about having a go-to konbini station while living in Japan. haha I felt as though I was more grounded in my community.
Lenna Stites

oh yes, very true! I personally didn’t use that service very often – but I know people who did. I did use the konbini to pay my bills though! Thanks for adding that =)
Katie

I live in Shikoku. We have 7-elevens here.
http://myshashin.tumblr.com TicTaek

I know last summer 7-11 had a few select stores in Tokyo selling slushes for a (short) period of time. I was sad that I missed drinking my beloved summer drink in the glorious Japan. Someday I suppose.
Michael Richey

A great song if you’ve never heard it. And catchy too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziX1oQRiA3w
Wonder Party

My town wasn’t even that small, but I still would’ve had to walk 25+ mins to get to a Lawson, Family Mart, or 7-11. I could get to an Everyone in 10 mins though. However, since I moved a bit closer to town centre 7-11 is practically around the corner, and Lawson is just up the street. If I continued down the street in the opposite direction, I’d hit two more 7-11, a Daily Yamazaki, and a Family Mart before reaching the main road (only 5 mins away by car). Sooooo many conbini!

I feel the quality of Japanese conbini food is sorely understated in this article though. I have only once, ONCE run across a convenience store in the US that had a respectable variety (and even then, not even beginning to approach Japanese conbini) and clean, welcoming interieor. Everything else is just bagged chips, candy bars, hot dogs, and jerkey.
Dan Cowell

Yep, Australian 7-11s are complete rip-offs. They basically sell snack foods, confectionary, cigarettes, cold drinks and maybe a tiny little odd assortment of household items. Barely anything in that regard, to be honest. They’re also universally overpriced, products are often up to twice the price (or more) of the same items at a supermarket. You also can’t buy alcohol there at all.
linda lombardi

Seriously, you are giving American 7-11s way too much benefit of the doubt. The food in Japanese konbini is actual food made from recognizable food ingredients. The food in the American stores consists of the most terrifying products of the junkfood-industrial complex – barely edible as far as taste and let’s not even get started on how unhealthy it all is – I will spare you all my rant on how much healthier and less fat Americans would be if they could stop at the 7-11 for an onigiri instead of a tube of pig snouts and a vat of sugar water with enough calories to feed a Japanese family of three for a whole day. Oops, I guess that was a rant after all. Sorry.
http://zoomingjapan.com/ zoomingjapan

I love conbinis. In my home country we have no conbinis and everything is closed on Sundays and national holidays, so you can’t buy anything!

I’m not really a fan of conbini bentos as they’re not very healthy, but I’m a fan of everything else I can get there.
I’ve been in Japan for 6 years now and I live close to a conbini. Sometimes I notice I forgot to buy something that I need the next morning, so it’s really easy to just drop by and get it there quickly. :D

Some Japanese coworkers keep saying that there are very few Lawsons in the boonies and it seems to be true. I’ve only always lived in the Japanese countryside and there’s no Lawson nearby which is annoying if you need to get tickets for a concert or stage play.
Renmi

I remember while I was in Japan, there was a Lawson 100 a block away from where I was staying. I went there for almost everything. It got to the point that the part-time would say, “oh you again. Get a point card yet?” Because I was only staying a week, I saw no point but he always seem disappointed. On my last day I went to say goodbye while grabbing a tea before my bus ride to narita, and he gave me one of the best farewells I’ve ever got.
Lenna Stites

Cool, so it’s begun! Nothing was recorded in the google map search I did but that could just be a lack of updated information. I believe the full article I read in one of the links above does mention that they were going to start putting in 7-11 stores from 2013. I imagine that more and more will be opening in clusters per their described business strategy in the coming years!
Lenna Stites

haha, not partial to the Slim Jims and Beef Jerky I see? I do agree that the food in American stores tend to gross when you think of what they are made of. I don’t buy things from American 7-11s if I can help it but I know there are a lot of people who love that junk though.
Lenna Stites

Mine too, Michael! Mine too…
Lenna Stites

You managed to get at “oh you again. Get a point card yet?” from only spending a week in Japan? haha that is impressive! I have only had pleasant experiences with my konbini part-timers too =)
Lenna Stites

the konbini do seem to be concentrated in the more densely populated city areas, that’s true. But it’s nice to read that there was an Everyone in place of the easily accessible Lawson, Family Mart, and 7-11s. I think most everybody would agree (At least in this discussion) that the quality of the Japanese konbini including its food reaches a high standard.
Lenna Stites

We have convenience stores in the US but they are incomparable to what Japan has just in how different they are. It does look like the stores are more clustered in cities more-so than town center outskirts but like the comment below mentions, there was a different store (an Everyone) in it’s place. Perhaps they would have the same services. I’m glad to hear your local konbini are treating you well! It’s easy to get spoiled in Japan I think – I know I was!
EspadaKiller

Holy shit you can do that too? Oh my…that’s amazing.
Cory

Great article, hope to visit Japan and go to a konbibi one day. I am from where the first Lawson’s ever existed. Forgot it began in Akron, Ohio.
Wonder Party

Yes, I think for anyone who’s been to Japan it doesn’t need to be said the quality of comibini services and food. However, when I talk to someone in the US who doesn’t know, I always have to backtrack my speech for a bit and make sure they understand the glorious thing I’m talking about… otherwise I think they’ll have the image of the dirty, dangerous places we have in the US.
http://twitter.com/karmillina Senpai Magica

The first time I was in Japan, I grabbed my daily breakfast from konbinis instead of the complimentary breakfast at the hotel because I took too long to get ready for the day. A couple of onigiri and warm tea was enough, with a couple of candies for the road, but depending on my mood I had even dango for breakfast D: don’t be like me. Konbinis were also life-savers the first days when the airline lost everyone’s luggage and a great portion of the group didn’t have enough changes to endure. Most of the girls bought men’s undershirts to wear as pajamas for the night, and others bought underwear because they just didn’t have enough XD I was well-stacked for clothes from my hand luggage but I had to suffer without make up or my moisturizing creams (If I don’t moisturize my face after a shower, I suffer the entire day). I got a small bottle of lotion from the konbini and a new toothbrush, it was not the best, but it helped a lot, specially since it was the end of winter.

And yes, Japanese konbini food is much better than convenience store food from America (I’m not saying the US alone, I call the sandwiches from the convenience stores here “loveless sandwiches” because they’re just so bland)
Joachim Lothe-Rikenberg

I truly fell in love with those stores when I celebrated Christmas in Tokyo a couple of weeks ago. Each morning I went to the closest konbini I could find and bought myself a warm meal to enjoy out in chilly weather.
http://lostmyheartinjapan.com/ Marina Sun

Unfortunately there are no konbini in my home country and it really is a some kind of reverse culture shock when you come home after one year in Japan and suddenly you can’t buy anything after eight in the evening.
Konbini saved me more than once from starving on my way to work and kept me warm with Oden in the winter on my way back home. Most of the Konbini work together with Takyubin Deliveries (Kuroneko and others) and it was so much easier to drop off my suitcases and boxes at the nearest konbini to get them delivered to my nerw address when I moved.
I really miss them…
http://www.twitter.com/christaran Chris Taran

A Sheetz is the closest thing we have a a real nice/Japanese style convenience store. They’re in no way walkable, but they do have good fresh food made to order and a ton of other stuff to buy.

Of course they still have nothing on the Japanese. Loved the Lawson in the basement of my hotel that I visited multiple times a day!
http://twitter.com/karmillina Senpai Magica

Wait a second, can you really do that, for real? Beacuse the Universe knows I’d find that useful in the next few months.
yoru.morino

7-eleven is more expensive than the other konbinis! hahaha
http://lostmyheartinjapan.com/ Marina Sun

Yes, you can! (^_^) And it was quite simple as well.
My konbini of choice was a 7eleven, as it was the nearest to my dormitory, and I just dropped two large suitcases and two boxes off and filled out an application. I had them delivered with Kuroneko two days later when I moved into my new apartment. I thought I would have to transport everything by train, so this “feature” definitely made my life easier ;)
JapanDad

In defense of American convenience, I have to point out that the Japanese are equally amazed and entranced by our “big box” stores. Oh my goodness, the Sam’s Club in Kansai is like a mythical El Dorado that the soccer moms speak of in hushed tones.

And that’s not even getting started on standard grocery stores. Even the largest grocery stores in Japan have nothing close to the items available at a US grocery store. Yeah, sure, it’s nice to get a katsu-don for lunch at the local convenience store, but I would trade every konbini in my entire city for one, single grocery store with an actual deli with sandwich meat and sliced cheese by the pound. Or, just a damn loaf of Wonderbread. Can’t even get that here. Give me a Piggly Wiggly over a Nankoku Super ANY day of the week.

One thing about konbinis is that, when you’re in Japan for a brief time, or if you’re stuck in the inaka, then – YES, they stand out as little oases of joy and pleasure. One of my worst weeks in the inaka was saved by the local konbini, which had blind-box models that I collected. So, one thing that happened when I shifted from temporary inaka teacher to permanent city resident is that the konbini lost its magic IMMEDIATELY. Once you get to know your neighborhood, you realize there’s absolutely nothing the konbini can give you that you can’t get better just down the street. I still go there for the newest, weirdest Kit Kats and potato chips, but a konbini lunch quickly becomes the most depressing option once you settle down in the city.

Honestly, it’s not so much konbinis that are magical – it’s the organization and grouping of Japanese stores. For example, most grocery stores have a separate bread shop attached to them, or a clothes shop. Some have little food-court like sections. One in town has a bookstore. The mall downtown has a grocery store that’s just kinda…there, mixed in with a department store. It’s actually really cool, because one shocking thing about Japan for many people (myself included) is their lack of barriers, and the chaotic way they mix things that just don’t go together. But sometimes, it comes together in this real magical blend, a quirky or unique combination, and it’s awesome. Konbini are one of those places, but there are other, better places to discover.
ruby

i saw a 7 eleven in 直島, 四国！
DAVIDPD

EricSurf6, an American YouTuber based in Japan, did a video awhile back highlighting a fried chicken sandwich and bun purchased separated and self assembled that look terrific. Ever since that video, I wanted to check one out.
http://greanerpastures.wordpress.com/ Brin

I miss milk tea too (and everything else at konbinis). T_T

I’ve always said someday I’ll write a letter to Lipton demanding it be brought to the states…