konbini

Ju-Lyn, , ,
Happy Place, Happy Space

It is a serious case of tripadation (thanks, Sarah, for this word). I am very much looking forward to the upcoming trip, but boy! has my body rebelled this week (butterflies in my unruly tummy, light-headedness, anxious ruminations). I’ve had to reach for my rescue remedy more than once.

Having said this, the excited planning continues as we pack, pick the brains of returning travellers, and tie up reservations. I have informed my family that I am going to pop into every konbini store I come across. Well, maybe for at least the 1st few days until the excitement wears off.

Konbini (Japanese convenience stores) are one-stop shops on just about every street, shining like a beacon of hope in the dead of night and wee hours of the morning when everything else is closed. Japanese konbini (the abbreviated word for konbiniensu sutoru, “convenience store”) are quite different from convenience stores in other countries.

In Japan … due to long working hours, short break times, and fast-paced modern life (especially in cities like Tokyo and Osaka), convenience is of the utmost importance … Japanese konbini make life a bit easier, with services such as Wi-Fi, bill payments, ticket reservations, ATMs, and scanners/printers, all in one place. The ATMs almost always take foreign cards, unlike Japanese banks, and you can even have packages delivered to konbini, so you can pick them up instead of waiting at home for the package to arrive.

byfood.com

This is the 2nd 7Eleven I chanced upon this week. Although just a shadow of their Japanese counterparts, I have popped in to get into the habit.

I am looking forward to anything with eggs (hard boiled, ajitama, onsen, sando). Loving Husband is after soft serve, matcha in particular. Older Child will work through karaage (fried chicken). Younger Child will try all the single serve yogurts & fruit cups. My parents will taste every thing we haul back to our Airbnb.

What is your favourite from a Japanese konbini? Do you use Convenience Stores where you live? Do you also suffer from tripadation?

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Reading your Joyful Posts brings me to my happy place. I hope having them in one place makes it easier for you to find when you need a bit of happy therapy, too.

If you would like to join in, tag your post with #happyplacehappyspace & ping back to this post and I will include you next week.

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Published by Ju-Lyn

A Mostly-Vegetarian living, running & eating her way through Singapore.

38 Comments

  1. Pingback: konbini delights – Touring My Backyard
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      1. Oh Ju-Lyn, I’m learning Japanese on Duolingo too. We should follow each other. Right now, I’m paused on it because of my phone troubles, which is disappointing because I was on a 39 day streak. hpmh!
        What is your username? Mine is Tada.

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  9. A trip to the konbini is a must, and my personal favorite is 711, while D’s fave is Family Mart. We made it a point to try out as much different konbini food that we could in our last travel, and I liked the egg sandwich, fresh fruit shakes, vegetable soba, and the onigiris.

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    1. Fellow Konbini Lovers! We, too, take every opportunity to pop into any of them every chance we got. I think on this trip, 7Eleven was our favourite – although there were very particular things we popped into Family Mart (oden) and Lawsons (fried chicken & pasta) for. Like you, I love egg sando. I didn’t get to try the fruit shakes nor the soba, and the rest of the family had copious numbers of onigiri!

      We had lots of salads this trip, and also their very convenient packages of frozen vegetables!

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    1. When you first mentioned “tripidation”, I remember thinking “aha!”, that’s exactly it. So I will forever remember it.

      It was a good vacation all in all – we had to alter and rethink plans daily, but that’s what we expected to do, so all good.

      I loved all the konbinis … Lawsons, Family Mart, 7Eleven, and a new one which I don’t remember from last trip, Aeon Mini Stop.

      Thank you for your Happy Place, Happy Space contribution – I will link it this weekend!

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  13. I have to confess to being a sufferer too, Ju-Lyn. We’re just days away from a trip to France and the sleepless nights have set in, even though I’m really excited to go.
    Convenience stores here tend to be quite small and limited to food essentials but I’m sure the bigger cities have all night ones. Have a fabulous trip!

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    1. I was thinking that maybe I have anxiety because I don’t travel often; but you are such a seasoned traveller, and if you have tripidation too, maybe it is more common than one realises!

      Ah, your convenience stores sound very much like the ones we have in Singapore too; not all of them are 24hours here.

      Have a lovely trip to France – if you are anything like me, we will be fine once we are on the way!

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  14. Tripadation is a great word! So convenient, indeed! 7-Elevens here don’t have all those services. Packages delivered seems particularly generous of them. I like your husband. I would go for the soft serve too! And I’m sure the matcha must be delicious. 😛

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        1. Hmmmmm …. we actually stock plain ole vanilla for Loving Husband to have with brownie, apple pie, etc etc. (I prefer Greek yogurt myself).

          But I hear you, why have vanilla when there are so many exciting flavours out there???

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      2. Traveling is both exciting and stressful. I certainly understand “tripadation.” I did not know about Japanese convenience stores so I learned something new today. I rarely use convenience stores. In Maine, they are very expensive. But have fun with the ones you go to in Japan. And thanks for the mention.

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