Cracking the konbini: how to shop a Japanese convenience store

Japanese convenience stores really do sell a genuinely good meal — that isn't an exaggeration. The problem is that every label is in Japanese, so visitors end up with the safe recognisable things — an egg sandwich and a bottle of tea — and conclude that's all a konbini is.

Ninety minutes across all three major chains, because each is strong at something different and none is best at everything. The first store is for reading labels: which two numbers are the use-by date, which sticker marks an end-of-day reduction, and what time staff actually apply them. The second store is onigiri: the three-step unwrap that keeps the nori from tearing — which everyone gets wrong the first time — and which fillings locals actually buy. The third is the hot counter, the coffee machine and the dessert shelf.

Then the group sits in a nearby park and tastes the eight to ten items already paid for, comparing the three chains side by side. You leave with a one-page cheat sheet of which chain to buy what from. These ninety minutes save money for the rest of the trip — and this is deliberately the cheapest tour on the list.