Conbini Monday Wk52

A special Lawson theme here at Yamashita Koen, Yokohama.

This week’s Conbini Monday features a Happy Lawson store from Yamashita Park, Yokohama. As Golden Week has started in Japan, many stores are not stocking a full range of goods and new products are thin.

This Happy Lawson store carries some interesting goods that you won’t find at your regular stores.

Inside the Happy Lawson they have plenty of Yokohama niche goods.

Thee shirts and bags look cool.

Special Yokohama merchandise.

Yokohama Port gets featured of course since we are at Yamashita Koen.

Great packaging on these kewpie baby snacks.

More baby snacks. There was a big selection here, which is unusual in convenience stores.

The characters on these packages are great. Reminds me of Halloween.

… and a few new pickups from my local Family Mart as well …

These Pekko-chan popcorn snacks look good.

I have liked the kinoko no yama treats from way back. Here is a new variation of them, with strawberry topping.

Do you like “themed” stores like this Happy Lawson or prefer the regular stores?

JR Convenience Stores

NEWDAYS convenience store at Osaki Station, Tokyo.

Looks like 7-Eleven have realized that NEWDAYS, the Japan Railway in-station convenience stores that grew out of small kiosk shops, have been gaining ground in the competitive convenience store market. NEWDAYS have been popping up everywhere at stations in central Tokyo. I have also seen a few stores outside of the main station building in a sign they may go mainstream on the streets as well.

7-Eleven has recently started to open stores teaming up with the Keikyu Railway. If you take a trip out to Haneda you can see one of the new stores at the station there.

7-ELEVEN convenience store on platform of Keikyu Railways at Shinagawa, Tokyo.

New 7-ELEVEN store opening soon near ticket gate for Keikyu Railways at Haneda Airport, Tokyo.

Seven Eleven and Keikyu combining to provide you with convenience stores.

7 Eleven and Keikyu means more convenience stores inside the station concourses.

Have you used a NEWDAYS convenience store? How do you feel they compare to Lawson, 7-Eleven or Family Mart? Do they have convenience stores like Lawson inside stations in your part of the world?

Conbini Box 1

Rilakkuma and Kiirioitori helping me put together the Conbini Boxes.

Thanks to everyone who replied saying they wanted to get a taste of Japanese convenience stores, conbini, in their own home. The poll finished up with most people wanting a US$50 box inclusive of postage.

I have checked prices at the post office and been through all of the snacks again to put together a Conbini Box that works out to US$50. Depending on where you live the postage may be slightly more or less. For this first Conbini Box we will have to go a bit on trial and error. I hope it works out close enough.

I have organized for 15 Conbini Boxes to be available in total. 10 of the small USD$50 Boxes and 5 of the larger USD$75 Boxes.

Please keep in mind the important points outlined below as to the conditions for this Conbini Box service.

Conbini Box USD$50 selection

A small head figure of Korilakkuma is included in this Conbini Box.

A closeup of some of the snacks. Jagariko, Milky, meiji purin, doraemon hidden in the back there.

Better view of calbee's pizza Jagariko and some baby star ramen.

Korilakkuma sitting in nicely with some wasabi crackers behind.

Milky treats from Fujiya, a small Rilakkuma towel, Evangelion Chap.9 cards.

The snacks all fit in nicely to the $50 Conbini Box. Japan Post logo on the front.

To order the USD$50 Conbini Box please click the Paypal button below. You can pay with credit card or Paypal account through this system. Credit card payments are handled by Paypal on a secure server.

By clicking on the “Pay Now” button and placing an order you are agreeing to the conditions outlined below

Conbini Box USD$75 selection

The full Conbini Box for US$75. A small Rilakkuma comes with this one!

Getting a look at the Japan Post logo on the US$75 Conbini Box.

Plenty of goodies to show off here. Hard to fit everything into the frame.

Milky treats from Fuji, wasabi crackers in the background. What else can you see?

Meltykiss is always a popular item. These are the new caramelized almond selection

Enough sweets and crackers here to keep you busy for a while.

A closeup of some of the Conbini Box items.

The full selection of items for Conbini Box US$75. Rilakkuma didn't get in this photo, but he will be in the Box.

The small Rilakkuma take center stage on top of the products.

To order the USD$75 Conbini Box please click the Paypal button below. You can pay with credit card or Paypal account through this system. Credit card payments are handled by Paypal on a secure server.

By clicking on the “Pay Now” button and placing an order you are agreeing to the conditions outlined below

Please take note of these important points

There are a number of things to remember when ordering:

The Conbini Box is offered in a spirit of friendship for those who can’t buy the goods themselves. If there is a problem with the Box when it arrives let me know, but I can’t guarantee the safe condition through the postal system direct to your home. Once I pack the Box and pay the postage it is physically out of my hands, although not my thoughts.
The items in the Conbini Box have been selected to fit into the budget and try to give some variety. We cannot ship certain types of foods, like eggs, meat and bread to many countries, so these have been left off the list.
We are conscious of the weight allowance in the Conbini Box. To get the best postal rates we have to keep the Box under 2kg. To keep the price down as much as possible, lighter is better. The Conbini Boxes currently on offer here weigh about 1.1kg and 1.6kg respectively. This includes the weight of the Box itself which was a separate cost from the Post Office.
If you buy the goods yourself in Japan it will be cheaper. You won’t have to pay for postage or for the box. You can also make your own selection of goods. For those who can’t buy goods themselves in Japan, the Conbini Box is available
The items cannot be returned. I have tried to make sure items included will not go off or melt, but can’t be 100% sure of the condition after postage. If there are problems please let me know and we can do things differently next time, but we can’t exchange items that have already been bought and sent.
I have chosen a postage system for small packets that does not include insurance and does not include tracking. If the postal service in your country is not reliable, then you can ask to use a trackable and insured service. It will cost more than just the US$50 or US$75 Box but you will have the guarantee of delivery. I can check prices for your location on request.
I have been quoted the postal prices on paper, but have yet to actually take a box for delivery to them. If for some reason postage prices change dramatically, I will have to review the procedure and get back to you with an alternative solution.
Postage delivery times may vary on your location. The postage chosen is the cheapest one to try and keep costs down and the number of items up. I would expect the postage to take at least 1 week and possibly upto 3 weeks. In the past I have sent items and they have arrived under 1 week, but there is no guarantee this will be the case. The only way to find out how the system works is for us to try it and see.
I have organized payment to be received by Paypal. Once payment is received the Conbini Box will be sent. I can’t offer refunds once the goods have been purchased.
I am not a nutrition expert, but my guess is if you eat the entire contents of the Conbini Box in one sitting you may not feel well after it. Please treat all items with respect ^^. If you have allergies please check the contents carefully. Ask me if you want some explanations. I will try to help.
I can’t substitute certain items for individual members in the Conbini Box. The Boxes are offered as set packages.
Convenience stores change out products every day. New products may only be in the store for 1 week. If they do not sell they will get replaced with other products. During the time I have posted the sample items for the Conbini Box and actually making the purchases, if items are no longer available I will switch them with a similarly priced item. Please understand, if the item is not available from the convenience store it will not be included in the Conbini Box. Another item available from the convenience store will take its place.
I am open to all suggestions as to how to improve things in the future.

I hope you like the selections made for this first round of Conbini Box. If response is positive and feedback is good then I will make another selection for the end of January 2010.

Order, Payment Review

By clicking on the “Pay Now” button and placing an order you are agreeing to the conditions outlined above

I hope you enjoy your Conbini Box.

Conbini Monday Wk14

calbee yakiniku tasting potato chips

Calbee make some great potato chips and this weeks to pick is no exception. With the top left hand label mark saying “we introduce new interesting flavors every month”, it looks like we could be seeing some good stuff coming up.

These chips are the flavor of onion, salt and lemon. If that doesn’t sound appealing, you need to think of a good open yakiniku (Korean BBQ) with some choice cuts of meat, finely sliced onions sprinkled on top and then a dash of salt and lemon. That is the taste of these potato chips.

For a bit of variety with the potato chips, you might want to try these 2 flavors by Gachapin and Mukku. They are salty seaweed and pizza flavor.

Gachapin and Mukku potato chips

You might remember the last time we checked on Gachapin @ Twitter he had just started tweeting and had already got 8,800 followers. Well he is now over 50,000 and growing fast. Go Gachapin !

Conbini Monday Wk13

Bakers Delight from Asahi (Banana chocolate)

Banana Diet was big with the ladies last year and ever since banana flavored products have been coming on to the market in an attempt to ride the trend and cash in on sales. This Asahi product in their Bakers Delight series was a set of 3 banana chocolate cookies. Quite tastsy.

Manneken Waffle (??? flavor)

When the Manneken brand first came to Japan and Belgian Waffles were all the rage, people used to line up for ages to get the taste of a hot waffle. The lines have gone, mostly, but Belgian Waffles are still popular. Here is a new variation on the waffle in a convenience store. A quick quiz to test out your eyesight.

What’s the flavor of the waffle?
A. Banana

Click on the text of the question above to see the answer.

Something new found at the Family Mart this week, they had a full range of Mens and Ladies socks and handkerchiefs. The socks came in many different shapes.

Mens and Ladies socks. many sizes and shapes to choose from

Shibuya246

Latest trends from Japan

Tagged with convenience store