Comment by dreamcompiler
20 hours ago
I almost never go to a 7/11 in the US but every time I go to Japan I visit a 7/11 at least once a day. No matter where you are in Japan there's likely a 7/11 within walking distance and besides the usual assortment of drinks and snacks you can get quick full meals there of high quality.
Conbini meals only register as "high quality" to you because your comparison point (e.g, American 7-11) is an abysmal excuse for food. The food is, in reality, not that special.
The first few years in Japan I loved combini food because of the novelty. Then you realise it's still processed crap loaded with chemicals and usually nutritionally poor (lots of rice, very little veg or protein) barely better than supermarket "ready meals" (or bento/souzai) and more expensive.
It's the honeymoon effect I guess.
This hot take, along with the "oh you can get better chicken than FamiChiki almost anywhere in Japan", drives me _nuts_, even as I live in Tokyo.
Yes! There are better options available if I want to sit down for a meal, or even just wait for a couple of minutes for someone to fry me a piece of chicken to order.
That's _not the point_! Both the SEJ meals, and FamiChiki, are _fantastic_ for what they are — available in literally tens of thousands of locations across the country, and available _instantly_, 24/7.
They're both _not that special_ if you compare them to a "real" restaurant (though, and I will die on this hill, FamiChiki is hands-down better than a good ~80% of chicken I would get in a restaurant in my home country; but that's a somewhat different conversation).
But if you compare them with convenience store meals available elsewhere in the world (especially in the broadly understood West), they still _are_ pretty damn special.
(And don't get me started on the 7-11 frozen pizzas from Da Isa. Those, reheated in a Balmuda also clear a good 75% of "real" pizzerias back home, and not because pizzerias in Berlin or Warsaw are particularly bad!)
> This hot take
It is not a hot take. I lived in Japan for quite some number of years and I'm back there regularly for work and to see friends. I know what I am talking about.
You live in Tokyo, you know damn well that you can receive silent judgement for being "that guy" who mostly eats at the conbini.
> But if you compare them with convenience store meals available elsewhere in the world (especially in the broadly understood West), they still _are_ pretty damn special.
What part of my original comment flew over your head? We said the same thing.
They are not that special when judged on merit.
> not because pizzerias in Berlin or Warsaw
Well kinda actually. In countries with good culinary, even basic konbini food can be better than more "serious" restaurant in bad culinary countries.
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