Convenience stores are a dime a dozen in Manila these days, quickly replacing the sari-sari stores of yore. However, no matter how ubiquitous we think they are or how extensive we find their merchandise lines, they are nothing compared to their Japanese counterparts, known colloqiually as “conbini”.

Japanese convenience store not only supply drinks and snacks, they also sell personal hygiene products, magazines, boxed meals, and event tickets. They are open all day and are staffed sparingly, making them safe havens for Japanese-deficient foreign tourists and socially-awkward geeks. Convenience stores have now become one of the pillars of the hikikomori lifestyle, replacing the supermarket and the fast food outlet in one go.

But that’s not the reason I am waxing poetic about the corner combini in our little section of Tokyo — it’s the stuff they sell inside that counts. Here are the five things I love (and miss) about Tokyo convenience stores, that I wished to high heaven and back they sold in stores here at home.

Onigiri

Onigiri are — to the uninitiated, rice balls wrapped in dried seaweed stuffed with a variety of fillings, including picked plum (umeboshi), tuna salad, or fish roe (mentaiko). They are cheap, portable, and delicious. Sold at just JPY 100 to 150 each, they are the perfect thing to take the edge off before a real meal — or if you have a small appetite, an entire meal in itself. The “Ninja Balls” the local franchise of a Japanese chain is trying to pass off as real onigiri is a pale comparison of the real thing.

Boxed Lunches

The boxed lunches sold at local stores are — let’s face it, horrible. I would never purchase and consume one if my life depended on it. On the flipside however, I love the cooked meals and lunch sets sold at Japanese convenience stores; they are good enough to actually pass off as restaurant food, if you’re not the picky type.

I think it has something to do with the fact that the food prepared in the chain’s commissary reaches the stores within the hour it was cooked, and is disposed off within four to eight hours (depending on the food type) if left unsold. The stringent quality control, not to mention the good quality of the food ingredients themselves, is enough to ensure that customers get a decent, even good meal. I miss that and would give my right eye for the local chains to do the same.

Pocky

So you think there are just two types of Pocky: chocolate and strawberry. Wrong — there are actually over a hundred variants to date, including limited editions that are released only during specific seasons of the year, on special promos, or whenever the guys at the Glico food labs have thought of something insane enough it just might work (like pineapple or banana). I don’t miss those types, but I really want the Green Tea Mousse and the Almond Crunch types to be more widely available (and cheaper). A girl can dream, right?

Green Tea

I do not like the local “green tea” drinks they sell here — they are far too sweet and don’t taste like green tea at all. Green tea is supposed to be a little bit bitter, so that it washes away the flavor of the food you just had. Therefore, I don’t understand the need to mask its natural acidity with too much sugar. The result is a horrid slurry of sugar, “fruit flavors”, and “green tea” — meh 😡

If you want real green tea, skip the local stuff and just look for the POCCA brand of drinks. They may be made in Singapore, but they taste just like the ones their Japanese mother company make, so it possesses a pure unadulterated tea flavor. More stores should carry this brand and others like Asahi, Suntory, and Kirin, and save us all from the curse of C2.

Ice Packs / Ice Wipes

Ice packs are small plastic packets containing chemicals that when activated, retain cold; they are put into coolers to keep food fresh while in transport. That’s not how I use them, however: I wrap them in a towel and wipe it across my face and arms for relief against the summer heat. Ice wipes on the other hand are just like ordinary face wipes, but have menthol and eucalyptus oil added to them for extra cooling. They are a godsend on sticky hot summer days, and since we are a tropical country I honestly think that we need this in our lives T^T

So that’s about it for my list. If you have a fond memory of Japanese convenience stores, or strangely wonderful Japanese products in general, please feel free to drop a line in the comments section. After all, I can’t be the only weirdo who has a one-sided love affair with Sunkus, Lawson, or Family Mart, right? XD