5 Everyday Japan Experiences To Try

Above, shopping at a konbini is one suggestion. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Now that Japan is fully open to foreign visitors, the usual attractions there beckon. But there are ordinary things to see and do while there. Those are worthwhile to do as well.

Japan Today has listed five everyday experiences one should try in Japan. I've done them all.

They begin with:

TOKYO - If you’re planning a trip to Japan, you no doubt have all the big sights on your list—traditional shops and streets around Kyoto, towering samurai castles, the iconic Mount. Fuji and much more. A good place to plan your trip is our very own GaijinPot Travel.

But for me, what really makes for an interesting travel experience are the smaller things that are mundane for people living in a country but novel and captivating for newcomers. So if you want to feel truly immersed in Japanese culture, check out these quintessential everyday experiences you might have left off your list.

Be sure to read the comments with the article. Some feel the list is silly, but others have better suggestions.

To read more, go here. 

Japan's Convenience Stores: 10 Reason Why They're Best In The World

Above, a Family Mart convenience store in the Asakusa section of Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

If there's a kind of business that there is never a shortage of in Japan, it is the convenience store.

One can find a convenience store within walking distance just about anywhere in Japan.

Unlike the ones in the U.S., Japan's convenience stores have goods and services not found anywhere else as handy.

There are reasons for why Japan's convenience stores are the best in the world and Time Out Tokyo lists ten of them.

They start with:

Japan’s convenience stores, known affectionately as konbini, are the best in the world. You can find them anywhere throughout the country, tirelessly open 24/7. In fact, it’s estimated that Japan has close to 60,000 konbini; in Tokyo alone, there are around 50 stores for every 100,000 people.

Konbini are the pulse of every neighbourhood, catering to your every need, want and whim, anytime of the day. Here are the things that make the konbini in Tokyo – and across Japan – our local superheroes, always there for us, come rain, shine, snow or typhoon.

 To read more, go here.

Japan's Seven & I Drops Plan To Buy Speedway LLC

Above, a Speedway sign in Gallup, New Mexico. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

This is certainly news to me. I wasn't even aware that a Japanese company was even considering purchasing Speedway LLC, a convenience store and gasoline station chain.

There are many Speedway gas stations in New Mexico and the refinery in Jamestown, New Mexico (just down the hill from me and behind the Flying J) is owned by Speedway's parent company, Marathon Petroleum Corp.

According to the Japan Times:

Seven & I Holdings Co. has dropped its plan to acquire U.S. convenience store chain Speedway LLC, informed sources said. 

The price for the acquisition, said to be around ¥2.5 trillion, was too high, a Seven & I official said Thursday. 

The decision will apparently force Seven & I to review its overseas operations, which have been an engine of growth. 

Speedway, a unit of U.S. refiner Marathon Petroleum Corp., was supposed to play an important role in strengthening Seven & I’s North American business, an analyst said. 

But ¥2.5 trillion price tag is equivalent to nearly half of the chain’s annual sales in Japan.
The deal would “weaken Seven & I’s finances,” another analyst said.

To read more, go here.

Speedy's Truck Stop

Above, Speedy's Truck Stop convenience store. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

After our usual coffee/breakfast gathering at Denny's in the Flying J, I headed west to Lupton, Arizona to pick up some cigars at the Tee Pee Trading Post.

Once that was done, I decided to head "next door" (on the other side of a field) to Speedy's Truck Stop. I have never stopped in before, so I decided to take a look and get some lunch. Speedy's is located next to Interstate 40 on historic Route 66.

Above, Speedy's Truck Stop restaurant. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Inside the main building, there's a convenience store, laundromat, showers and a restaurant for travelers and truckers to take a break.

Above, today's lunch/dinner. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

I went to the restaurant and had a plate of four tacos with beans and rice. Not bad! I enjoyed it.

Following lunch, I headed on home. I should have had a little less food as I was fighting off a "food coma". But I made it.

I'll probably skip dinner, or just have enough to take my meds.

Japan's "Big Three" Convenience Stores

Above, a FamilyMart in Asakusa. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

When strolling just about anywhere in Japan, there is usually a convenience store handy.

The "big three" of convenience stores in Japan are 7-Eleven, Lawson and FamilyMart. I've been to all three. Some may ask, "What's the difference between them?"

Live Japan has just the answer.

They begin with:

From busy downtown areas to sleepy rural villages, convenience stores are a common sight in Japan, open 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. The three big names of Japanese convenience stores are 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, and Lawson, dominating the city centers. You won’t only find snacks, boxed lunches, and freshly brewed coffee but also alcoholic drinks, everyday items, and a lot more in these stores. During the night, they even act as a drop-in spot for the police and services like mail reception, ATMs, multifunctional printers, and free-to-use toilets make convenience stores indispensable for Japanese daily life.  

But what is the difference between the difference convenience stores? We’re taking a thorough look at Japan’s “Big Three” and their different services, brands, and more.

To read more, go here. 

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. 

Latest News On Convenience Stores/Travel Centers

Above, a Kum & Go travel center in the midwest. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The convenience store/travel center industry is constantly changing and Convenience Store News has the latest skinny on them. RVers and other travelers would do well to keep abreast of the changes.

The Jamestown, New Mexico Pilot Flying J Travel Center is located down the hill from where I am moving to.

The convenience stores/travel centers they have a report on includes Love's, Kum & Go, Pilot Flying J, Circle K and others.

They begin with:

NATIONAL REPORT — The convenience store industry landscape is constantly changing as chains open and close stores each week. On a regular basis, Convenience Store News highlights these comings and goings in this special roundup.

 To read more, go here.

Get To Know Japan's Convenience Stores

Above, an Asakusa Family Mart. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

One of the most handy places to pick up a few essentials (and non-essentials) in Japan are their convenience stores. There's usually one within walking distance from wherever you're at.

Japan Info has an article on Japan's three main convenience stores and what can be bought there. The three are Seven-Eleven, FamilyMart and Lawson's. Of the three, I like Lawson's the best.

They start with:

People who have been to Japan and have attested to the country’s impressive convenience store lineup aren’t exaggerating. 

Japanese convenience stores, or “konbini” in Japanese, have tons of surprises that will make your first, second, and perhaps even third visit a “wow moment” experience. The presence of these shops is no longer limited to urban areas but even to small towns in the countryside. If you are planning to stay in one of the major cities, then it will most definitely be an advantage for you to know the three major go-to convenience stores that are open 24-7 and provide a great food selection ranging from main meals to desserts. Whether it’s a late-night snack, a quick bite or a trip to buy some basic toiletries, these konbini giants have you covered.

To read more, go here. 

Top 5 Japanese Convenience Stores

Above, an Asakusa FamilyMart convenience store. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

A nice thing about Japan is the numbers of convenience stores (known as konbini in Japan) around the country. I've made plenty of use of them over the years.

GaijinPot takes a look (actually, their second look) at the top five konbini stores.

They wrote:

Whether you’ve decended into full-fledged konbini dependency or just a light user, Japan-dwellers always seem to have an allegiance to a certain brand. We offered a list of our Top 5 convenience stores in Japan a few years ago, but it’s time to revisit our stance.

We took a quick poll of where our staff stands on this issue and the results were, well, impassioned. Comments escalated from, “Whatever happened to ‘Am/Pm?’” (bought out by Family Mart in 2009) to “Daily Yamazaki and Mini-Stop are the worst!”

So enough with the small talk — here are our five favorite convenience stores in 2017 (in descending order).

To read more, go here.

FamilyMart To Install Foreign Currency Exchange Machines

Above, a FamilyMart store in the Asakusa area of Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

To better able to assist foreign tourists, Japan's FamilyMart convenience stores are planning to install foreign currency exchange machines in some of their Tokyo stores.

Japan Today reported:

TOKYO —Convenience store chain FamilyMart plans to install automatic foreign currency exchange machines in some of its stores in the Tokyo metropolitan area, starting Feb 1.

The machines will be able to handle 13 foreign currencies including U.S. dollars. The machines will convert the currencies to yen.

To read more, go here. 

RocketNews 24: 10 Factors That Make Japan A Safe Country

Above, an Asakusa convenience store. They are always operated by two workers. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

For years, people have been hearing that Japan is either crime-free (not true) or safe (true). There is some crime in Japan, but compared to other first world countries, it is a pretty safe place.

There are several reasons for this and RocketNews 24 has posted an article with ten of them.

They begin with:

We’ve all heard about how safe Japan is. But unless you live here, you may not understand why Japan is considered so safe. The uninitiated may presume that safety is enforced through a rigid society that doesn’t allow freedom of expression, that Japanese people are too worried about losing face to commit a crime, or that the government comes down unnecessarily hard on people who step out of line. In reality, none of these rings true. 

But we can’t deny that there’s one thing that Japan does better than anyone else. Join us after the jump for some insights and our own observations.

The one thing Japan does better than anyone else is that it puts a strong focus on crime prevention. In addition, safety of its citizens is paramount. Here is a list of some factors that we believe help Japan be free from danger.

To read more, go here. 

Japan's Top 5 Konbini

Above, Newdays at Harajuku Station. They seem to have a monopoly at train stations, according to the article. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It seems there's a convenience store on just about every block in Japan. Maybe not on every block, but at least within easy walking distance.

The convenience stores I've been to in Japan, such as Lawson's, 7-Eleven and others, carry the same things (and sometimes more) as do the convenience stores in the United States. But, unlike the U.S. convenience stores, the Japanese ones don't seem to overprice their goods. I've found their goods to be priced reasonably.

Gaijinpot.com has an article on the top five convenience stores. Most, if not all, of them I've shopped at.

The article begins with:

In fact, convenience stores are so convenient that they are even called ‘konbini’ so you don’t have to waste time pronouncing those extra two syllables. The best thing is that there are lots of different brands of konbini all trying to be more convenient than the other in an epic contest of economization across Japan. 

So, I have carefully compiled a ranking of my own top 5 konbinis, mostly based on personal tendencies towards disorganization and being bad at cooking. 

 To see what "the top five are," go here.

Japan Convenience Stores Offering Print Services For Maps and Photos

Above, a Seven-Eleven convenience store in Ueno, Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Japan has many convenience stores to choose from. They are in constant competition with each other and that competition drives them to offer more services than the other.

Convenience stores range from Seven-Eleven, Lawson's, Am-Pm, FamilyMart and Circle K, among others.

Now, they are offering printing services aimed at foreign tourists.

According to The Japan News (Yomiuri Shimbun):

Major convenience store chain operators are competing to provide a wider variety of services, including map and photo printing, by installing multifunction copiers at their outlets. 

Since late April, Seven-Eleven Japan Co. has been providing a new service that allows customers to print A3-sized maps of 43 sightseeing spots in the nation—including Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Gion, Kyoto Prefecture—for ¥100 each. The service is targeted at tourists.

The other convenience store companies have responded by offering similar services at their outlets.

Many customers have also been using the Seven-Eleven printer machines to print photos taken with their smartphones.

To read the full article, go here.