On the night before our flight back to America from Japan, my wife and I began to pack everything into our suitcases.
We soon realized that one suitcase would be over the airline’s allowable weight for checked luggage.
Having had to wait five long years before coming back, we certainly had purchased quite a bit during our stay.
But the suitcase itself was also to blame; it was quite heavy on its own, even with nothing inside.
So we had an idea.
Why not toss the old thing, and buy a new suitcase from a store close to the hotel? Japanese suitcases, after all, tend to be well made.
Sturdy and yet quite light.
We settled on an excellent model that was made by…American Tourister. A brand owned by…Samsonite.
Wait, a minute:
Why are the Japanese versions of these products so different from their American counterparts?
This got me thinking about a more general trend that reflects a divide between my life in the US and life in Japan:
Something I call The 7-Eleven Effect.
Complete with relevant snacks.
7-Eleven is an American chain, but it’s everywhere in Japan, so much so that most Japanese people assume that the company started there (ditto for Wendy’s, Denny’s, and KFC. Don’t ask).
Whenever Japanese people visit the States, they are eager to check out the 7-Elevens. They get excited about it. Which totally confounds Americans.
Do Americans get excited about visiting 7-Elevens? Hell no!
He sleeps wearing the name tag.
On the very first night of my first time ever setting foot in Japan (back in 2004) my dorm mates suggested getting something to eat from 7-Eleven. And I thought: “Seriously? Is there no better option?”
But I went anyway. And I was amazed.
Japanese 7-Elevens are so much better than American ones!
They’re clean, they have great food of all sorts…they have whiskey!
It truly is a wonderland.
Americans visiting Japan never want to visit 7-Eleven, but when they do they’re invariably impressed.
Japanese people eagerly seek out American 7-Elevens, and they are invariably disappointed. What gives?
What’s especially odd is that a lot of these businesses knowingly copy from existing American businesses. But they ramp up the quality to an extent that it’s not recognizably American anymore!
Here’s another example:
We went to a Jonathan’s (a lot like a Denny’s) and I ordered scrambled eggs, sausage, toast, and coffee. The eggs were cooked using butter, and textured perfectly, similar to the standard in Paris.
Everything tasted great. That all cost the equivalent of about 6 dollars, and no tip necessary.
When I got home, I ordered something similar in my Virginia neighborhood. It was mostly good, but the eggs were overcooked and dry. And the meal was $16. Without the tip, that is.
Again, what gives?
* Paging Adam Smith *
Right now, there’s a more urgent matter:
I specifically asked for separate checks…”
The most nationalistic people of my country worship at the altar of the American free market, as if it were the key to human happiness and liberty. And yeah, free markets can do some great things. But do we in the US really have a market that’s working for us, the customers?
If our markets are the answer, why are we on the crappier end of the 7-Eleven Effect?
Part of the reason might be corporate fat cats trying to maximize their own profits at the cost of quality.
But often, those same corporations are making better products in places like Japan, perhaps due in part because of different laws that constrain their behavior.
Yet it also likely reflects different customers with different demands. After all, Japanese people have clear standards of what to expect, and they know what they want. Americans, by comparison, don’t.
Japan’s high standards for quality actually might result from their more collectivist, conformist culture.
What does a given Japanese person want? What everyone else around them wants.
Exactly the same. Not just for handbags and haircuts: everything.
Ramen noodles must have a certain buoyancy, and the soup must be piping hot…or else. Customers expect the perfect cafe latte, and it better be served no later than 3 minutes after the order…or else. “Everyone else gets it that way, why shouldn’t I?”
Americans, on the other hand, value the idea of self-expression through consumption. We look for products that no one else has. We look for quirky restaurants that are offering something not found at their competitors. We look for crazy life fixes sold via crazy deals.
And frequently, we get swindled.
At the very least, we grow accustomed to subpar service, partially because we don’t have a standard for what’s good quality or poor.
For most people around the world, Wonder Bread is a horror.
For many Americans, it’s a staple.
Japan’s businesses are by no means perfect, and there are times when I pine for the American system.
Refunds for instance, are so much easier to get in the States. And good luck ever trying to tailor your order to your preferences in Japan!
Eggs cooked a different way?
Pickle “on the side?”
I’m sorry, sir…there are no exceptions.
But by and large, I am astounded by the magic of the Japanese market and the great things it makes available at reasonably affordable prices.
And I am always eager to head back and experience the swankier side of the 7-11
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Hmm … lots to think about here! And now I’m in the mood for a Slurpee.
I recommend the Winter Whisky Squid flavor. 😉
No 7-Elevens here to compare against. My main experience with them was my time in Australia where they seemed aligned with the US rather than Japanese version. One company with a marked difference in the Aussie market is that Burger King is branded as Hungry Jacks down under cos another restaurant got there first in trademarking Burger King.
Last year I visited a McDonalds for the first time in over a decade (it was late, it was a stag party, there had been a lot drinking and it was the only place open to get food). I’m a carnivore but I was with a a German vegan who was somewhat disappointed with the limited range available to him of fries and one vegan burger as he said back home there were multiple options for the not so discerning vegan in need of a McDonalds fix.
Which also has me wondering, based on what you’ve said about tailoring your order in Japan how they cope in McDonalds?
I’ll be going to France this June and I’m somewhat tempted to check out the McDonalds there (to say nothing of…Subway bread!). I think the McQuality there is better than the US. Still, given that my time is limited, I am more likely to go for the delicious freshly made options available all around me rather than something that’s “good-for-a-McDonalds.”
I went to makudonarudo quite a bit when I was studying abroad in Tokyo. In my youth, my wallet was empty and my stomach lining quite tough. I will say that it was a little bit tastier than the States, if only because they still use animal lard to cook their fries and apple pies.
So…vegan options. I will actually address that in an upcoming post, but you can guess where it’s headed!
I had assumed that vegans would be well catered for in Japan but the use of animal lard suggests that I may well be wrong there!
It all depends on how strict you are vs how willing you are to just close your eyes and not ask questions. 😀
I’m also going to France soon but it never occurred to me to try McDonalds there, though I entertained the notion of getting a “Royale with Cheese” at Burger King. However, the chances of getting the lovely Ms. Virgindog into either of those places when there’s a boulangerie across the street is zero.
I wonder how much better France has gotten catering to vegetarians and vegans. I remember my friend and I wandering Paris looking for somewhere we could both eat at (she’s vegetarian). We started getting rather hangry and cursing the French to not even offering decent salads anywhere.
Decided to avoid that mess later that day and ate at a Pizza Hut in the Louvre shops. How’s that for living life like a Parisian??!! 😆
Then there’s that thing they called a ‘hamburger’ I got in Italy at a roadside diner that nearly drove me to turn vegetarian the rest of that trip, oy….
I visited a 7-11 in Bangkok and found it much like Phylum’s description of the ones in Japan. Much nicer and higher quality.
Also this reminds me when I was in Luxembourg this past summer. There was a holiday I wasn’t familiar with… Assumption Day. Everything was closed! We had nothing to do and nowhere to find lunch. After driving the city for nearly an hour, we found a gas station open.
Just like 7-11 has hot dogs, pizza and taquitos, this place had prepared hot food as well. So we went in and ordered some German style sausages. I’ll be damned if these sausages weren’t friggin’ amazing… and on fresh baked bread to boot. It was well-prepared and tasty (whereas 7-11 hot food in the US only exists so you can dare your friends to try it and not barf).
George W. Bush once made a reference to our public education system in terms of “the soft bigotry of low expectations.” Now he made this argument in pursuit of the wholly corrupt goal of privatizing our education system. But something in that expression stuck in me… when we get used to low standards and accept them, are we really doing anyone any favors? Why do 7-11 and Denny’s suck? Because we collectively aren’t expecting or asking more from them.
(“Collectively” isn’t really a thing here in the US, which is a shame. If we put more of ourselves in our collective — and inclusive — identity and less in our stupid individual egos, we could make this country a much better and fairer place.)
Yeah, totally agree. Kind of like how everyone talks about the benefits of new technology without considering possible downsides and unexpected consequences…all Americans know the frustrations and perils of collectivism, but there are certainly upsides to consider! Not to mention negative consequences of individualism gone berzerk.
A tangent: One thing that I was recently thinking about while in Japan is that we Americans really hate to think of ourselves as basic. We want to think of ourselves as special, independent, unique, quirky, ahead of the pack, etc. Which leads to a lot of fragile egos–not to mention denying reality (by definition, most people can’t be the outliers on a bell curve). Japanese people tend accept their basicness, and I think this is ultimately a good thing.
They’ve got separate issues to deal with, to be sure (repression and exploitation being big ones). But I feel like if we Americans learned to make peace with our basicness, maybe we wouldn’t all be trying to find the next crazy solution to guarantee our specialness/success/political domination/etc.
#JustMyTwoCents
I came up with the following life motto back in middle school –
Expect Nothing, and Forever Be Surprised.
I thought it was profound, but in retrospect all I’m doing is feeding into the substandard acceptance forced on us!!
Fascinating. Did not know that about 7-11. But we really do get lulled into slowly getting shafted more and more over the years in America, don’t we? I mean, I loved Apple Jacks cereal as a kid. Loved them. Never got them though. So when I went to college and was on my own I was like – right, I am eating Apple Jacks forever, I have 18 years to make up for missing out on it.
They had a very distinctive taste that was a baseline for me, and it was so strong I can still imagine it – the taste, the smell, the sound of them hitting to bowl. And after a few years the taste stared changing ever so slightly. I complained, but but still got the damn things cause it was still Apple Jack’s. And it kept changing. And getting worse. And worse. To the point where I felt like I was eating cardboard rings. Once I finally threw in the towel and never purchased them again cause they now SUCKED, I got mad at myself for letting Kellogg’s string me along for so long. But, that’s exactly what all these companies do.
Honestly, going to the World of Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta as a teen was when I first understood just how different the world views so-called American staples. And why for years Mexican Coke and Pepsi products were highly desired, virtual black market items – they kept using real sugar while the US started pushing for corn syrup to replace everything sugary.
Yeah, good point! I used to love Coke, and part of the reason why I don’t anymore is because the recipe changed for the worse.
I pass by the cereal aisle every week at the store, and wonder if I should get a box of Apple Jacks/Golden Crisp/Cinnamon Toast Crunch/etc for old time’s sake.
I think I know the answer… 🙄
I remember eavesdropping on some Wichita State baseball fans. They were amazed by the number of 7-11s we have here. One woman said: “I was like having an eighties flashback.”
Literally, today, I walked into a 7-11. I paid $3.79 for a can of Sambazon Acai Berry, and $4.39 for a ONE protein bar(glazed donut).
I accompanied my mom to watch Ming Tsai of Food Network fame cook live in-person. He likes spam. He expressed genuine joy of seeing the musubi(it’s spam and white rice wrapped with dried seaweed), an anomaly specific to the Oceanic region. Roger Ebert liked spam. Conversely, there was novelist Sherman Alexie, who made lots of new friends by calling spam “gross” at campus speaking engagement.
In Japan, musubi is any kind of rice ball. I think the Spam variation originated in Okinawa and got big due to the American military presence there.
We got a wa-fuu tsuna (Japanese-style tuna) one from a famous chain Omusubi Gonbei that was so good that we started to make our own at home. Basically tuna and mayo plus some nice, smoky bonito flakes. They had another one with bonito flakes and melted cheese, which was also amazing.
I’m a little less confident about making that one, but I’ll probably give it a try.
This is from a shop near our hotel in Shin-Yokohama. 全部食べたい！
Too many choices!
Another great article which brings back so many memories!!
I hope to learn more about Japan thru your series!!!
(P.S. – I’ve noticed a number of TNOCers live in the Northeast. Anyone want to consider meeting up this summer?)
Yes, we Americans like to take our variety of options to 11.
That McDonalds sounds a lot fancier than any in Japan. Sounds like a red and yellow suit and tie affair.
Provided the where and when worked out, I’d definitely be down for a TNOCS meetup!