I have about 7 convenience stores all within 3 minutes walk of my house. The Lawson is about 10 seconds away (too close to avoid visiting anytime of the day), then I have a Ministop, 7-11, Family Mart, another Lawson and 2 ampm’s. It is sometimes difficult to decide which one to go to and if I don’t find what I want in one store it is easy to quickly go the next.
This weeks conbini Monday goods come from the local 7-11 at the top of my street
The chocolates shown above are called 三丁目の夕日チョコレート or 3rd street sunset chocolates. the small tag with Tokyo Tower on it says なつかしい昭和の味, nostalgic taste from the Showa era.
The back of the package shows the types of chocolates as ラムネ (ramune), フルーツポンチ (fruit punch) and コーヒー牛乳 （milk coffee).
An explanation of 昭和の日 (Showa day) is also given, syaing that the celebration of the previous Emperor Showa birthday on April 29th has now become, since 2007, known as Showa Day, and is a chance to reflect on the beauty of the Showa era.
The chocolates are made by チロルチョコ株式会社, Tirol Chocolate company. Their website can be found at http://tirol-choco.com/
You may not have seen this pack of chocolates before, but you may recognise one of this company’s other products, the TIROL small chocolate that can often be seen next to the cash register.
11 comments
Really like the way they are using the Showa atmosphere to work on the popularity of the flavour … great marketing appeal there …. must be that the Showa era has that warm fuzzy feeling to it…..
Thanks. good idea for marketing ! warm and fuzzy all in one chocolate package :p
Konbanwa,
It's 9:20 central time 5/24/09. Your a lucky guy to have that many conbinis that close to you. Such choices i'm envious, don't know if i spelled it right. the only time i was able to get any Japanese products was at Disney World incountries of ther world at Epoct. Mitsukoshi that's where i tasted my first bottle of Ramune soda and gummy snacks. I still have them. You said you had pictures of the posh 7-11 from Disney Japan, would like to see just how posh a 7-11………. can be.lol!
As usual have a great week and look forward to the next article.
ja mata ne
Thanks whipcracker. Conbini's are so easy to shop in, it's great. I have a few photos of the posh Disney convenience store, but want to take some better ones. I will get down there this week and see what I can do.
I just saw on twitter that @ShaneSakata is heading down that way today to Ikspiari. Maybe I will try and catch up with her at the same time. 🙂
Cool. This is really a nice idea. Educational.
Thanks for all the great RT on Twitter. You have a really interesting flickr portfolio and great groups.
http://www.flickr.com/people/eelssej_/ B)
Ah yes, the natsukashii kanji of raping and pillaging in the greater co-prosperity sphere. These chocolates bring it all back.
I love your conbinis! Well, we actually have 7-11's too but have mostly American, some Korean, and a lot of Chinese food in stock. Got some Japanese chocolate last week though. Yummm. Will ask Shibuya what it was…lol. Love the articles. Very educational and mouthwatering.
Thanks for your comments here and on twitter @sakuramaruu . I really enjoy my conbini vists. 😀 If you want, post your picture and i will see what you have bought. maybe i will find the same type of chocolate here. thanks
I posted the picture of the sweets my friend got sent this week in Twitter. I would love to know what they are called. The marshmallow type thingie tastes like it has bean paste/jelly inside. I enjoyed them. And I asked you how to use the meds. My apologies for not knowing so many things! But I love to learn. I saw a bottle of Pocari Sweat in 7-11 today and thought of your conbini series. lol
Oh and yes. I ate quite a few of the choco pies. Yummm…. Am doing extra laps at the pool this week. 😉
Thanks. They looked really good. I have tried the chocolate cookies before. I used to eat them a lot. I have a drink of Pocari Sweat in my hand right now. :p