Talkin 'Bout Convenient
The Japanese convenience stores are as aptly named as the bullet trains. And they put their American counterparts to shame.
Sure, both offer small snacks and drinks. Both offer the occasional drug-store product and or small tool. Both have ATMs.
But at Japanese konbinis, I pay my bills. No need to transfer money or send checks to the utility companies. Simply walk in and present my bill to the clerk, and she rings it up. Somewhere along the line the payment makes its way to the company.
As do their American counterparts, Japanese convenience stores have prepared foods for sale. And as in America, the quality of such food is below the quality you'd find at a supermarket or restaurant. But unlike America, the food is still quite good (see earlier post on how good Japanese food is). While I don't make a habit out of eating konbini-prepared meals, it is no problem when I do. A recent sampling included sushi, spaghetti carbonara and fresh salads.
Konbinis also have these wonderful all-purpose ticket machines. These machines allow one to buy tickets for sporting events (I've gotten tickets at the konbini near my house both for sumo wrestling in Tokyo and baseball in Osaka), concerts, movies, or just about anything else going on in the country.
How... convenient.
Sure, both offer small snacks and drinks. Both offer the occasional drug-store product and or small tool. Both have ATMs.
But at Japanese konbinis, I pay my bills. No need to transfer money or send checks to the utility companies. Simply walk in and present my bill to the clerk, and she rings it up. Somewhere along the line the payment makes its way to the company.
As do their American counterparts, Japanese convenience stores have prepared foods for sale. And as in America, the quality of such food is below the quality you'd find at a supermarket or restaurant. But unlike America, the food is still quite good (see earlier post on how good Japanese food is). While I don't make a habit out of eating konbini-prepared meals, it is no problem when I do. A recent sampling included sushi, spaghetti carbonara and fresh salads.
Konbinis also have these wonderful all-purpose ticket machines. These machines allow one to buy tickets for sporting events (I've gotten tickets at the konbini near my house both for sumo wrestling in Tokyo and baseball in Osaka), concerts, movies, or just about anything else going on in the country.
How... convenient.
posted by David at 12:23 AM
3 Comments:
i think all convenient stores in asia beats the crap out of the stores here. when icame here i asked for 7-11 and ppl were like, why do you wanna go to a ghetto store? lil did they know 7-11 in hk/taiwan is huge and they pretty much provide anything you need except a tv and a bed
Yeah, you see 7-11 every 3-4 blocks in Taiwan. When T and I went to Taipei, we played a game of "guessing how many more blocks away you will see the next 7-11", and we could spot 7-11s every 30 seconds. People not only pay their utility bills and traffic tickets, also you could order things on some major internet stores equivalent to Amazon.com here, asked them to ship your stuff to the closest 7-11, and pay at the 7-11 cashier while you pick them up to avoid using credit cards on internet... Pretty crazy...
u talkin shit about 7-11 hot dogs...man them fighting words...
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