Konbini Culture: Unwrapping Japan’s Unique Convenience Stores

Konbini Culture: Unwrapping Japan’s Unique Convenience Stores

From Japan Eats! by Heritage Radio Network

December 4, 2025 · 56 min · Episode 387

About this episode

Gavin Whitelaw discusses the unique characteristics and cultural significance of Japanese convenience stores, known as Konbini.

Our guest is Gavin Whitelaw  https://rijs.fas.harvard.edu/gavin-h-whitelaw  who is the Executive Director of Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University.    Gavin has spent over a decade living and teaching in Japan. Before joining the Reischauer Institute in 2016, he was the Senior Associate Professor of Anthropology and Japan Studies at International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo for eight years.  He has researched a wide range of topics, including Japanese contemporary commerce, work life, foodways and material culture.       Gavin is here today to discuss Konbini, the Japanese-style convenience store, a subject on which he has done extensive research. Convenience stores were born in the U.S in the 1920s and were transplanted to Japan in the 1960s.  Then its concept developed into something very different, which has become a necessary part of Japanese society overall.  As of January 2025, there were 56,749 Konbini nationwide.    In this episode, we will discuss the unique characteristics of Japanese-style convenience stores, what you can buy and…

People in this episode

Guest: Gavin Whitelaw

Topics covered

  • Konbini
  • Japanese convenience stores
  • Japanese culture
  • commerce
  • foodways

Keywords

  • Konbini
  • Japan
  • convenience stores
  • Gavin Whitelaw
  • Japanese culture
  • foodways
  • commerce

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, International Christian University

Places: Japan

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