Konbini Culture: Unwrapping Japan’s Unique Convenience Stores

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 experience at Konbini , Gavin’s intriguing work experience at Konbini shops and what he discovered there, the possibilities of exporting Japanese Konbini abroad and much, much more!!!

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