When I try to explain Japanese 7-Eleven to mortals (AKA Americans), their puny minds can’t comprehend it. How can their 7-Eleven: a world of Slurpees, junk food, and armed robberies be so different just an ocean away? But it’s true; Japanese 7-Eleven is entirely different. Entirely.
A Japanese 7-Eleven is somewhere I (and 127 million Japanese) pop in for a quick おにぎりand an ice-cold むぎ茶. It’s somewhere a trucker stocks up on snacks in the middle of the night, somewhere a businessman gets his lunch and a ビール, or even a place where moms pick up eggs, curry, edamame or ice cream. And even though I don’t drink it, 7-Eleven also makes delicious coffee where the beans are freshly ground before your eyes. By contrast, American 7-Eleven coffee is like some old lady’s diarrhea (or so I imagine).
In Japan, 7-Eleven is so popular and their food is so good that they opened up a chain of supermarkets stocked with entirely their products. It’s called Ito-Yokado, and it will shock your balls. Ito-Yokado is just 7-Eleven on a much larger scale, so they have all the entertaining and wacky products that 7-Eleven has, and more. Much much more. With that said, I would like to be your guide through the most amazing sh*t I can find in a 7-Eleven or Ito-Yokado. Without further ado, come on the amazing journey, and learn all you should know…
Drinks:
This bizarre beverage appears (claims?) to be a latte, yet it is completely transparent instead of taking on the required brown hue that we’d expectThis is a milk-tea flavored bubble tea that Maya had the pleasure of sampling. However, according to her, “the bubbles taste like rubber”. Nonetheless, the pure novelty of bubble tea in such a scenario qualifies it for this lisA popular soft drink in Japan is called カルピス(Calpis in English), and many things here are Calpis-flavored. This one in particular is Calpis-flavored jellly and is sucked out of this pouch like astronaut food. Despite the description, it’s pretty good.Yes, 7-Eleven also makes it’s own brand of 酒 (sake) – no word on its quality though.Here’s another addition to “drinks that are clear for some reason (but shouldn’t be)”. According to my research “Coca-Cola Clear” is only available in Japan and Singapore. Perhaps that’s for the best. Stay tuned for a taste test.
Meals:
A view of the 焼き鳥(yakitori – grilled chicken skewers) spread.A spectacular seafood spread on rice at Ito-Yokado for just ¥698 ($6.36) plus tax. At home, this would cost WAY more and be WAY less fresh.A view of the 天ぷら(tempura) spread at Ito-Yokado.Our picnic after a visit to Ito-Yokado.A favorite culinary activity in Japan is to pick two separate Western foods and smash them together into culinary atrocities like the one you see above. The real question: Do Japanese people actually eat these?Magnificent sushi platters – they go for anywhere between $5 and $10!! Japanese pizza – shrimp and pineapple…yum?
Snacks:
Check out the inventory of 7-Eleven brand snacks. It’s colossal.7-Eleven brand instant ramen- simply breathtaking.
Desserts:
Another Calpis-flavored product – this one is a pastry-style bun filled with Calpis syrup. Yum!In America, we have Oreos. In Japan, we have Cream Clans. Go figure.Check out this strawberry and blueberry cheesecake. One of Japan’s most underrated foods are its European-style desserts. Whole floors in depachika are dedicated to desserts such as these, and 7-Eleven is no different.Candy choices – decisions, decisions.
So despite all the claims that the best place to live is a Hollywood mansion right next to David Spade, the real best place to live is actually this apartment:
Catch me here in 10 years, living off of the fantastic specimens you just saw, suckas.
Zev is a first-year ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) in Iyo City, Ehime Prefecture, Shikoku, Japan. He hails from the lovely city of Portland, Oregon, and has had a lifelong connection to Japan inherited from his mom, who was an ALT herself some thirty years ago. He attended Japanese immersion elementary school in Portland and has been studying Japanese off-and-on ever since (heavy emphasis on the off, as his Japanese is not great). Zev’s primary interest is cuisine (as documented on his personal food/travel blog, zeveatsit.com), but he also has a burning passion for music, movies, sports, prestige TV, and recreationally reading Wikipedia. He thinks that The Sopranos is the pinnacle of creative fiction, the Grateful Dead are the greatest American rock n’ roll band ever, and Deni Avdija will be an All-Star this season. He has many other strong opinions and enjoys discussing them – if you want to hear more, subscribe to his blog!
[…] some of you may have read in my last blog post, I recently scoured Japanese 7-Elevens, top to bottom, for the most interesting foods and drinks […]
[…] of The Church of Japanese 7-Eleven, as evidenced by my previous works: The 7-Eleven Challenge and Ito-Yokadelicious. But now I’d like to focus on one of their specific products: zangi (Japanese-style fried […]
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