4 ms·

On our last couple of Japan trips, we would walk into 7/11s for an inexpensive coffee, an egg or fruit sandwich, and also do some treasure-hunting for co-brande

On our last couple of Japan trips, we would walk into 7/11s for an inexpensive coffee, an egg or fruit sandwich, and also do some treasure-hunting for co-branded items with Muji/Uniqlo or others. It became a short and meaningful part of our routine. We loved the convenient locations and fantastic service at all their stores. Well done, Suzuki-san!

rjh29 4mo ago
They are expensive by Japanese standards. Assuming you're American, you're benefitting massively from the exchange rate.
- adventured 4mo ago
  It's not the exchange rate. It's 30 years of economic destruction and currency devaluation as the end result of horrific spending policies. If Japan doesn't right the ship, they'll sink into middle income territory over the next 30 years. Poland and Greece are now just slightly below them in GDP per capita - and Lithuania is above them (unthinkable circa the mid 1990s). Realistically Japan is very close to being a second tier economy. It's quite plausible that Croatia and Latvia will pass them on GDP per capita over the next decade. 7-11 Japan would be relatively inexpensive for the citizens of any affluent nation, because Japan is so much poorer than it used to be.
  - wahnfrieden 4mo ago
    Convenience stores have gotten more expensive but they've always been an expensive option in Japan. It's always been much cheaper to go to grocery stores or other such alternatives to get the same items.
  - rjh29 4mo ago
    7/11 is still 30-50% more expensive than the supermarkets, so irrespective of how affluent people are, it's a poor choice. I used 'exchange rate' because not only is the yen weak, but the USD seems pretty strong - I guess it depends on where in the US you are from, but as a Brit, US feels expensive to me, Japan feels cheap, ergo Americans must find Japan even cheaper than I do.
    - wahnfrieden 4mo ago
      I think tourists just don't know the names of grocery stores, don't see them on social media, and don't expect them to have essentially all the same items as convenience stores (and in even greater variety) because ones back home have disappointing prepared and packaged foods. They also just don't care about wasting money when it already feels cheap. Unrelated but another tip unknown to tourists is to get cold drinks (even alcohol) at pharmacies instead of convenience stores: their beverage fridges tend to be set much colder.
  - jmknoll 4mo ago
    Thank you. I live in Japan and it is incredibly frustrating to hear people here talk about the exchange rate as if it is some temporary but unfortunate weather condition, rather than the downstream effect of a generation of terrible policy decisions that it actually is
    - rjh29 4mo ago
      Probably more accurate to say the bubble period was the weather condition and the current rate is more of an equilibrium.
  - dmos62 4mo ago
    > Poland and Greece are now just slightly below them in GDP per capita - and Lithuania is above them (unthinkable circa the mid 1990s) Re Poland and Lithuania: USSR collapsed in early 90s, and many would have been forgiven for thinking that these countries would continue to live in poverty, which they obviously didn't. Notably, USSR was a donut empire where the peripheral regions were richer and more educated than the heartland. That's also why the collapse of USSR started there. Sarah Paine talks about that.
  - nokeya 4mo ago
    And now compare not the numbers, but what these countries actually produce, in global sense. Japan produces cars, electronics, medical and precision stuff, cultural exports. And what do Croatia produce? Not even speaking about almost dying Latvia and Lithuania.
  - osnium123 4mo ago
    Is it their spending habits and resulting expenditure on infrastructure or is it their currency policies to try to boost exports? Not challenging but asking for clarification.
  - AtlasBarfed 4mo ago
    Aren't in late stage techno consumerist demographic collapse that many others (Germany, China, yeesh, South Korea) aren't going to suffer from to an even worse degree? I guess one could point to various policies, especially with pseudo- protectionist benefits given to the Japanese mega conglomerates, which like in Korea are kind of just an extension of the government. But I wonder if such economic policy fumbling is in an evil outgrowth as people try to deal with the underlying collapse.
  - pyrale 4mo ago
    The countries you cite all exited communism ruined but with an educated workforce and a working education system, and benefited tremendously from EU access. It is not that Japan has fallen to their level, it’s that they have experienced an economic boom in the last decades, and are not that far behind western Europe now.
- blululu 4mo ago
  IDK man - this is sort of true, but I think you under-estimate how quality and price scale. A Jumbo-Choco-Monaka at 7/11 is still a fantastic value at ¥160 even if you adjust for purchasing power. GDP Per Capita (PPP) is about $85K in the US and about $60K in Japan, but even granting a 2x increase for California then a $2 choco-monaka would be a steal. As it is, I just spent $4.50 for an Its-It about an hour ago and while I am quite a dedicated fan of these things I would have gladly forked over ¥700 for a Chocomonaka if such things existed in California. I realize that people don't live out of 7/11 for their daily groceries and your point has some validity, but the quality/cost is still a great deal relative to what you would get in America.
  - rjh29 4mo ago
    $85K vs $60K ...to give you some idea the typical wage in Okinawa for a combini job is about $6/hour. I think the income disparity is larger than those numbers suggest. FWIW Japanese people living there tell me combinis are expensive based on their salaries and I believe them.
    - 59percentmore 4mo ago
      IIUC Japanese budgets are different. They spend comparatively less on housing and transportation than Americans. The Anglosphere in general has somehow developed a rather toxic status quo when it comes to that first basic need, with everything else only being slightly cheaper. I would rather pay 15% more on goods and 30% less on rent.
      - movedx 4mo ago
        > I would rather pay 15% more on goods and 30% less on rent. Exactly. Housing and the housing market in Japan is an interesting beast. Based on my limited understanding as someone who has sort-of briefly looked at buying a home in Japan, houses are not really financial investments. For example, compare house prices in Japan (including the land) with a house in Australia.
        4mo ago
- mitthrowaway2 4mo ago
  It's pricier than a supermarket, but still decently good value even in Japanese terms.
  - Tor3 4mo ago
    In our local 7-11 I can find the exact same carton of milk as sold in the supermarket, and the price is also exactly the same. So it depends. Some of the other stuff sold there is more expensive, but somewhat surprisingly it isn't that more expensive, so if I need butter or yoghurt or tea in a hurry then it's no big sacrifice to stop at the closer 7-11 instead of adding the extra five minutes (of walking) to go to the supermarket instead.
- darkwater 4mo ago
  And how had the Japanese inflation / cost of living changed over the last 10 years or so? I went there in 2015 and now hearing this I'm strongly thinking about paying another trip there... I mean, back then 1 EUR bought 135 yen and now it's 185, and I already remember restaurants to be pretty cheap for the average quality, while hotels/apartments sucked a bit - especially in room size.
  - rjh29 4mo ago
    From my experience prices have gone up (relative to salaries) however the weaker yen means you won't notice it.
irjustin 4mo ago
YT channel @japaneats is easily my favorite for seeing what's available in 7-11 japan.
MisterTea 4mo ago
On my trip there with a group of friends we would wake up and head to the local 7-11/Lawson/Family Mart. Even when we went into the countryside for the hot spring baths in Hokkaido there was a Lawson in town. 7-11 had the best food though. I loved those chicken teriyaki egg sandwiches, onigiri and the yakisoba-pan. But those chocolate swirl babkas were clutch. I once wandered in late night and cleared the shelf of them.

rjh29 4mo ago

They are expensive by Japanese standards. Assuming you're American, you're benefitting massively from the exchange rate.

adventured 4mo ago
It's not the exchange rate. It's 30 years of economic destruction and currency devaluation as the end result of horrific spending policies. If Japan doesn't right the ship, they'll sink into middle income territory over the next 30 years. Poland and Greece are now just slightly below them in GDP per capita - and Lithuania is above them (unthinkable circa the mid 1990s). Realistically Japan is very close to being a second tier economy. It's quite plausible that Croatia and Latvia will pass them on GDP per capita over the next decade. 7-11 Japan would be relatively inexpensive for the citizens of any affluent nation, because Japan is so much poorer than it used to be.
- wahnfrieden 4mo ago
  Convenience stores have gotten more expensive but they've always been an expensive option in Japan. It's always been much cheaper to go to grocery stores or other such alternatives to get the same items.
- rjh29 4mo ago
  7/11 is still 30-50% more expensive than the supermarkets, so irrespective of how affluent people are, it's a poor choice. I used 'exchange rate' because not only is the yen weak, but the USD seems pretty strong - I guess it depends on where in the US you are from, but as a Brit, US feels expensive to me, Japan feels cheap, ergo Americans must find Japan even cheaper than I do.
  - wahnfrieden 4mo ago
    I think tourists just don't know the names of grocery stores, don't see them on social media, and don't expect them to have essentially all the same items as convenience stores (and in even greater variety) because ones back home have disappointing prepared and packaged foods. They also just don't care about wasting money when it already feels cheap. Unrelated but another tip unknown to tourists is to get cold drinks (even alcohol) at pharmacies instead of convenience stores: their beverage fridges tend to be set much colder.
- jmknoll 4mo ago
  Thank you. I live in Japan and it is incredibly frustrating to hear people here talk about the exchange rate as if it is some temporary but unfortunate weather condition, rather than the downstream effect of a generation of terrible policy decisions that it actually is
  - rjh29 4mo ago
    Probably more accurate to say the bubble period was the weather condition and the current rate is more of an equilibrium.
- dmos62 4mo ago
  > Poland and Greece are now just slightly below them in GDP per capita - and Lithuania is above them (unthinkable circa the mid 1990s) Re Poland and Lithuania: USSR collapsed in early 90s, and many would have been forgiven for thinking that these countries would continue to live in poverty, which they obviously didn't. Notably, USSR was a donut empire where the peripheral regions were richer and more educated than the heartland. That's also why the collapse of USSR started there. Sarah Paine talks about that.
- nokeya 4mo ago
  And now compare not the numbers, but what these countries actually produce, in global sense. Japan produces cars, electronics, medical and precision stuff, cultural exports. And what do Croatia produce? Not even speaking about almost dying Latvia and Lithuania.
- osnium123 4mo ago
  Is it their spending habits and resulting expenditure on infrastructure or is it their currency policies to try to boost exports? Not challenging but asking for clarification.
- AtlasBarfed 4mo ago
  Aren't in late stage techno consumerist demographic collapse that many others (Germany, China, yeesh, South Korea) aren't going to suffer from to an even worse degree? I guess one could point to various policies, especially with pseudo- protectionist benefits given to the Japanese mega conglomerates, which like in Korea are kind of just an extension of the government. But I wonder if such economic policy fumbling is in an evil outgrowth as people try to deal with the underlying collapse.
- pyrale 4mo ago
  The countries you cite all exited communism ruined but with an educated workforce and a working education system, and benefited tremendously from EU access. It is not that Japan has fallen to their level, it’s that they have experienced an economic boom in the last decades, and are not that far behind western Europe now.
blululu 4mo ago
IDK man - this is sort of true, but I think you under-estimate how quality and price scale. A Jumbo-Choco-Monaka at 7/11 is still a fantastic value at ¥160 even if you adjust for purchasing power. GDP Per Capita (PPP) is about $85K in the US and about $60K in Japan, but even granting a 2x increase for California then a $2 choco-monaka would be a steal. As it is, I just spent $4.50 for an Its-It about an hour ago and while I am quite a dedicated fan of these things I would have gladly forked over ¥700 for a Chocomonaka if such things existed in California. I realize that people don't live out of 7/11 for their daily groceries and your point has some validity, but the quality/cost is still a great deal relative to what you would get in America.
- rjh29 4mo ago
  $85K vs $60K ...to give you some idea the typical wage in Okinawa for a combini job is about $6/hour. I think the income disparity is larger than those numbers suggest. FWIW Japanese people living there tell me combinis are expensive based on their salaries and I believe them.
  - 59percentmore 4mo ago
    IIUC Japanese budgets are different. They spend comparatively less on housing and transportation than Americans. The Anglosphere in general has somehow developed a rather toxic status quo when it comes to that first basic need, with everything else only being slightly cheaper. I would rather pay 15% more on goods and 30% less on rent.
    - movedx 4mo ago
      > I would rather pay 15% more on goods and 30% less on rent. Exactly. Housing and the housing market in Japan is an interesting beast. Based on my limited understanding as someone who has sort-of briefly looked at buying a home in Japan, houses are not really financial investments. For example, compare house prices in Japan (including the land) with a house in Australia.
      - 4mo ago
mitthrowaway2 4mo ago
It's pricier than a supermarket, but still decently good value even in Japanese terms.
- Tor3 4mo ago
  In our local 7-11 I can find the exact same carton of milk as sold in the supermarket, and the price is also exactly the same. So it depends. Some of the other stuff sold there is more expensive, but somewhat surprisingly it isn't that more expensive, so if I need butter or yoghurt or tea in a hurry then it's no big sacrifice to stop at the closer 7-11 instead of adding the extra five minutes (of walking) to go to the supermarket instead.
darkwater 4mo ago
And how had the Japanese inflation / cost of living changed over the last 10 years or so? I went there in 2015 and now hearing this I'm strongly thinking about paying another trip there... I mean, back then 1 EUR bought 135 yen and now it's 185, and I already remember restaurants to be pretty cheap for the average quality, while hotels/apartments sucked a bit - especially in room size.
- rjh29 4mo ago
  From my experience prices have gone up (relative to salaries) however the weaker yen means you won't notice it.

irjustin 4mo ago

YT channel @japaneats is easily my favorite for seeing what's available in 7-11 japan.

MisterTea 4mo ago

On my trip there with a group of friends we would wake up and head to the local 7-11/Lawson/Family Mart. Even when we went into the countryside for the hot spring baths in Hokkaido there was a Lawson in town. 7-11 had the best food though. I loved those chicken teriyaki egg sandwiches, onigiri and the yakisoba-pan. But those chocolate swirl babkas were clutch. I once wandered in late night and cleared the shelf of them.