[langsoul-com]

What makes Konbinis across Asia unique is that it's convenient, cheap and high quality. That's the magic sauce.

Most other places are super expensive or convenient or high quality. But hardly all combined. That's why Asian Konbinis are great. Note this is true of most of Asia, not just Japan.

[burglins]

Are they cheap, though? I often avoid going to shops the like of GS25, Żabka or 7/11, because the prices are often 125%-150% the normal supermarket price.

[wesapien]

In the area I stayed in Tokyo, there was a konbini and supermarket across the street from my nearest subway. Food is definitely cheaper, more selection and better quality at the supermarket. I started making notes on Google Maps for any supermarket that I can find along my routes.

[smugma]

25-50% markup is rather small, given the convenience. In the US, 100% premium is not unheard of. And Costco may be half the price of the supermarket if you’re willing to buy bulk.

[wintermutestwin]

They also have clean and free restrooms. My Japan trip was such a pleasure as I was able to walk ~20km a day without ever stressing about needing to pee. Contrast to most US/EU cities where I burn so much time urgently trying to find a bathroom or else I stop hydrating and feel crappy.

[dfxm12]

In my experience, that's not unique to just konbinis though. Granted, I've only been to large cities, but cheap, convenient, delicious food is available from many types of stores/vendors/take away/etc.

Maybe it's just the big cities, but I think maybe this part of the world just demands this from anyone selling food. If you aren't providing this quality, you won't stay in business because there's too much competition that is.

[yapyap]

Is it also cheap for the average Japanese person? I assume we’re all just chatting away about mostly western standards given that HN is an English platform

[saynay]

Yeah, fairly cheap. Can grab a sandwich for about the price of metro fare.

[ThrowawayTestr]

Lots of English YouTubers have channels dedicated to Japanese food. The prices always make me extremely envious.

[homebrewer]

You would be drooling all over with envy if you learned about food prices in my country (not Japan). The problem is, we make 10-15× less than you do¹, so when you actually correct for purchasing power, it turns out that food is much more expensive than in the US. Are you absolutely sure it's not the same in Japan?

1: probably even less than that; last time I seriously checked this was in 2021, and our inflation runs at 20% per year, while income mostly stays the same.

[brandall10]

It's definitely a factor... average salary in Japan is slightly more than half the US.

That said, I've been to 25 countries / 40 cities in the past 2 years and Tokyo felt like an anomaly.

Price-wise, it wasn't too dissimilar to Eastern bloc countries where average salary would be yet again half what they are in Japan. You could get a great meal at a decent restaurant for well under 10 euros. Something similar in Manhattan would be over twice the cost. In a place like Bucharest, probably still more and be of worse quality.

And the city itself is highly modern and clean, unlike in those nations. It presents as a place that should be incredibly expensive in many aspects, yet it isn't - ie. the subway system is world class, yet a fraction of what the subway costs in NYC.

Right now I'm in Mexico City, and I've told many folks who live here, to their amazement, that Tokyo is roughly similar in cost for what I call 'middle class' living. In fact, for nicer restaurants, it seems more expensive here compared to similar places in Tokyo. Street food and the like is still a fair bit cheaper here, but when you simply look outside and try to compare them, it is shocking.

[krageon]

When you compare it with the prices of other realistic costs (housing, transport, etc) it is significantly cheaper than you'd expect in a country with equivalent costs in those areas.