Seven-Eleven Japanese Stores To Include English In Labeling

Above, a Seven-Eleven store beneath a Denny's restaurant in Asakusa. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Foreign visitors to Japan who stop at convenience stores to pick up a snack are often perplexed about what a prepared food item contains.

Seven-Eleven Japan Co. is doing something about it. They are going to label products in Japanese and English.

According to Kyodo News:

Seven-Eleven Japan Co., the country's largest convenience store chain operator, will start selling onigiri rice balls and some other prepared foods with labels carrying product names in both Japanese and English from the new year. 

Seven-Eleven Japan President Kazuki Furuya said during an interview with Kyodo News on Thursday that the measure is in response to requests from foreign tourists, whose number has been soaring and is expected to rise further ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. 

"More foreign customers will be using convenience stores in Japan in the future," Furuya said, adding he hopes foreign tourists' visits to Seven-Eleven stores in Japan will lead to a stronger brand power of the company in the United States, China and Southeast Asia where it is opening more stores. 

According to the company, the number of foreign visitors purchasing products at its stores has been growing in big cities and popular tourist destinations.

To read more, go here. 

Tokyo Brushing Up On English For The 2020 Olympics

Above, the driver of this Roppongi taxi may be taking English courses for the 2020 Olympics. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games are just six years away, but already employees of Japanese companies who cater to foreign tourists are brushing up on their English skills.

According to The Japan News:

More people in more business sectors are increasingly enthusiastic about improving their English conversation skills to offer better hospitality for foreign tourists before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. 

Informal English conversation groups have flourished among taxi drivers and geisha—two professions with frequent interactions with foreign visitors. 

The Tokyo Fire Department will send firefighters to the United States to study English in an effort to help build a force of firefighters and rescue team members with high English proficiency, able to assist and reassure foreign tourists in the event of illness or injury.

To read the full story, go here.