/

Japan: Lost and Found – Episode 2:

The 7-Eleven Effect

208 views

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.

Pull up a chair: Phylum always tells the best stories.
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!

Except for, perhaps, uber-fan James “Big Gulp” Mortimer. He’s obsessed.
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!

Definitely not your mother’s Slurpee.

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 *

“We can discuss the free-market invisible hand theory later.
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


Let the author know that you appreciated their article with a “heart” upvote!

0

Thank You For Your Vote!

Sorry You have Already Voted!

Views: 109

Phylum of Alexandria

Committed music junkie. Recovering academic. Nerd for life.

Subscribe
Notify of
19 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
cstolliver
Member
Famed Member
cstolliver
Offline
February 9, 2023 5:27 am

Hmm … lots to think about here! And now I’m in the mood for a Slurpee.

JJ Live At Leeds
Member
Famed Member
February 9, 2023 8:27 am

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?

JJ Live At Leeds
Member
Famed Member
February 9, 2023 9:55 am

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!

Virgindog
Member
Famed Member
Virgindog
Online Now
February 9, 2023 10:04 am

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.

dutchg8r
Member
Famed Member
dutchg8r
Offline
February 9, 2023 5:53 pm

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….

Pauly Steyreen
Member
Famed Member
February 9, 2023 10:25 am

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.)

dutchg8r
Member
Famed Member
dutchg8r
Offline
February 9, 2023 6:02 pm

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!!

dutchg8r
Member
Famed Member
dutchg8r
Offline
February 9, 2023 5:44 pm

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.

cappiethedog
Member
Famed Member
cappiethedog
Offline
February 9, 2023 11:50 pm

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.

cappiethedog
Member
Famed Member
cappiethedog
Offline
February 10, 2023 1:56 pm

Too many choices!

thegue
Member
Famed Member
thegue
Offline
February 10, 2023 4:49 am

Another great article which brings back so many memories!!

  1. When I backpacked Europe in 1992, I spent a lot of time in Denmark, and wound up in a Spinal Tap-esque discussion over beer. THE beer company in Denmark is Carlsberg, and that summer they were advertising the possibility of adding a third beer to the market. Think of those Lay’s “Do Us a Flavor” contests. Danes were wrapped up in it…and when my cousin and I would bring up the thousands of beer options we had at home, we always received the same quizzical look and response…”Yes, but this will be THREE…
  2. I did NOT want to eat at American franchises, but I made an exception in Warsaw, where I went to (at the time) the third largest McDonald’s in the world, behind Moscow and Beijing. I checked in at the hostess stand, was escorted to a table, and then went to order. There were at least 40 employees engaged with customers, and an untold number behind the scenes. I have a picture…somewhere, and the food was better than I remember.
  3. Syria did NOT have ANY American food franchises. McDonald’s looked into the market, but Syrian authorities wanted them to purchase locally grown lettuce among other things…which was a problem, since Syrian farmers used VERY organic fertilizer. Like, human organic. McDonald’s passed.

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?)

19
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x