"Ping-pong, ping-pong! Ping-pong, ping-pong!"
The automatic doors slide open and you step onto the mat on the inside of the convenience store. A strong smell of freshly brewed coffee hits you from the counter where a woman is making herself a ¥100 cup. There is a zing and a buzz from the photocopier, where a student is copying some pages out of a textbook. A delivery worker is unloading boxes full of sweet buns and rice balls. Some people stand by the magazine rack, flipping through the manga. A woman is transferring her rent payment using the in-store ATM. Several customers wander around the food and drink aisles, choosing between the hundreds of brightly colored options.
Describing such a scene, it is easy to romanticize the Japanese convenience store, or konbini. In some ways it is like a little village, functioning as a bank, post office, coffee shop, supermarket, book store and general store — all in one little space.