CULTURAL NOTESConvenience Storesoriginated in the U.S.A. about 100 years ago. In Japan the ﬁrst

one appeared in 1974, and there are now 56,500(in 2024). To achieve this phenomenal success inJapan, they had to introduce management prac ces from the U.S.A. while inven ng their own businesstechniques. For example, the stores developed their own recipes for some tradi onal foods (,etc.) They also have refrigerated packaged meals and other food products delivered several mes a day.
Manyin Japan have a retail ﬂoor area of only about 100

3,000 types of products. Even so, a local, limi ng them to a maximum of about

is generally able to sell what people need for daily living.

One important factor is the Point of Sales (POS) system. Computer networks link cash registers in stores totheir respec ve headquarters. The cash registers have bu ons to record customer gender and age group. In
this way, customer data is correlated with the product and price informa on obtained from the bar codesof the item purchased. Customer and sales data is transmi ed from each store to its headquarters, where itis stored and analysed. Because of POS,

can stock exactly what people want, which explains why

sales revenues and store numbers are con nuing to rise. Now Japanese styleother countries including Taiwan, Korea and China.

are succeeding inhas become a popular light meal in Korea.

Convenience stores have recently been playing an important role in mes of natural disasters providing
toilets, drinking water, supplies and mobile phone charging services.
In recent years, convenience stores located close to home are now more commonly used by elderly people.
In response to this, a trend towards healthier foods have drama cally increased. A wider variety of cooked
foods and vegetables are also sold in smaller por ons at a low price, which are valued not only by theelderly but also by people living alone, by working parent/s and by late night workers.

Services available
A popular facility oﬀered atATMs and a toilet are also available.
Concert ckets or travel ckets can be purchased.
You can print out digital pictures using the mul func on copying machine.

At many stores, it is possible to drop oﬀ or pick up deliveries (luggage.
A range of postal / delivery services are available.
Meal deliveries are also possible, and about 300 diﬀerent types of meals can be delivered to yourhome or oﬃce.

When you buy
you want to eatoris a bill payment service.

), such as parcels or, you can use the complimentary microwave to heat it up. If
just a er you buy it, boiling hot water is also available.

©2024 The Japan Founda on, Sydney

Popular Items for Sale

These are lollies which are o en wrapped individually and sold in a bag. The most popularcome infruit or so drink ﬂavours.

is sweet bean jam. Sweet beans are strained or mashed bean paste boiled with sugar.
commonly made from red beans (is most), but it is some mes made from white or mo led kidney beans. It

is the most widely used ingredient in Japanese sweets.

is a bread ﬁlled with.

usually refers to sweets, cakes and chocolates, but it also includes savoury food such as potato chips
and(Japanese rice crackers).

can also be referred to aswhich actually meansa ernoon tea.

There are various kinds of tea drinks sold in Japan such as green tea, oolong tea, herbal tea and black tea.
Usually, it is sold in a can or a plas c bo le.

(green tea) is more popular than water. In

when people buy Japanese foods likeor,, they o en buy a tea drink. You can have hot

tea or cold tea, and most people prefer cold tea to the hot variety.

is a type of simmered one pot dish and usually served with hot mustard as a condiment. A variety offoods, such as, Japanese radish, hard-boiled eggs, konjac jelly (konnyaku), rolls of kelp, many kinds of ﬁshpaste cake, etc. are boiled together in a large pot with seasoned ﬁsh broth. In, there is a big pot ofnear the cash register from which you can choose the ingredients you like and take the broth away.
is a very cheap meal, and is very popular in winter.

is a rice ball. It is either round or triangular in shape, and is o en covered with a sheet of(dried seaweed). It comes with a variety of ﬁllings such as pickled plum, salty salmon, seasoned kelp, orcodﬁsh roe. There are about 18 kinds ofsold in.

©2024 The Japan Founda on, Sydney

A Japanese lunchbox usually contains rice, a sour plum and vegetables boiled in soy sauce. The main mealis o en ﬁsh, otherwise chicken, pork or steak. The kind ofsold depends on the season. A

microwave is always available to the customer to heat up their.

Instant Noodles)
A wide variety of instant noodles are sold in. They are cooked by pouring hot water into the large

polystyrene cup in which they are sold. You can also buy instant pasta,and. There is a hot water

dispenser with boiling water near the cash register for customers to cook their noodles.
Coﬀee
Canned and bo led coﬀee is very popular in Japan, and almost every vending machine stocks it. There aremany kinds of coﬀee, which businesspeople commonly drink in the morning. Cold coﬀee is also available.
SaladIn, salads are sold in small plas c containers. There are many varie es of salads. There is the basic

salad with le uce, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn and tuna, or salad with seaweed. Other choices aremacaroni salad and burdock salad, and the dressing is usually mayonnaise. Because salads are healthy, they
are very popular with women. Japanese people o en have salads with breakfast.
(Sandwich)
Sandwiches are similar to their Western equivalent, but in Japan they are usually made of white bread andthe crusts are cut oﬀ.

Soy sauce is the most commonly used seasoning in Japan. It is made by fermen ng beans.

is Japanese crackers and usually made from rice. The crackers are seasoned with salt or soy sauce
and dried by baking them again. Some are wrapped in seaweed. The size and shape ofgreatly from locality to locality.

©2024 The Japan Founda on, Sydneyvaryare long thin brownish noodles made from buckwheat ﬂour. They are eaten either hot in soup () or as a cold dish with a dip (condiments. In,or). Minced green onions and other spices are used as

are sold like instant noodles, andor

are sold freshwith cold dipping sauce and condiments on the side.

Made of dough consis ng mainly of rice ﬂour,is kneaded and shaped into small balls which aresteamed or boiled. The balls are given a variety of coa ngs, such as sweet bean paste (ﬂour () or soybean), or they are dipped in soy sauce and grilled, o en on bamboo skewers.

This is a round bun, consis ng of ﬂour based pastry usually with pork mince inside.

are always soldhot, and stored in ovens to keep them warm. They are rela vely cheap, and they come with a variety ofﬁllings including pizza, curry and.

(comics) are very widely read by both young people and adults. Somecopies every week (Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, One Piece etc.) Populara er ﬁrst being serialized in weekly magazines. In

sell several million
are turned into books, shop owners allow browsing because they wantto create the impression of a busy and bustling convenience store. They also consider having manycustomers a form of the preven on.
Nail Polish)
Although this word comes from the English word ‘manicure’, in Japanese it actually refers to nail polish.

is made by crushing boiled soybeans and adding salt and malted rice (which acts as a yeast).
vital ingredient of, which is a tradi onal Japanese soup.

consists of pieces of chicken, grilled on bamboo skewers over charcoal. It is ﬂavoured duringcooking with either a sour-sweet soy-based sauce or with salt.

©2024 The Japan Founda on, Sydney

is a