Today I'm here to tell you about 2 of Japan's less-discussed conveniences: the 7-11, and the juice box.
7-11 and other convenience stores cover every block of Japan. You know you're in the middle of nowhere when you walk for 60 seconds yet see no Family Mart in your field of vision. Unlike American quick-stops, Japanese ones offer a range of healthy and unhealthy foods, spare toiletries, cheap underwear (?), office supplies, wedding and funeral cards, DVDs, beauty products, appropriate and inappropriate magazines, a mini coffee bar, and (my favorite) raw purple octupus tentacles on sticks.
They also offer juice boxes. However, Japan fills these cardboard portables with many things besides fruity sugar water: milk, watered-down yogurt, iced black coffee, sugared coffee, English milk tea, bubble tea, plum wine, rice wine, wine coolers. Silly American, juice boxes are not just for kids!
The most amusing part is that, no matter what's in the box, they all come with straws. On every box there's a little foil circle labeled "Straw Exit." At least, this is the literal translation. Perhaps the Japanese word for "exit" also means "entrance," but for some reason every time I read a juice box that says "Straw Exit," I crack up. Be they convenient, juice boxes are really quite complex.
2 comments:
Mmmmm... BUBBLE TEA! I *heart* bubble tea. Mmmmmm...
Honey, while they may not be rhetorical, they are the subject of a new and different post, one which I have not written yet. In fact, they may be better as the subject of a long overdue face-to-face discussion with a far-away friend.
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