Konbini Life is a blog that describes limited-edition Kit-Kats as potential after-dinner treats for French restaurants and speculates that Mousse Pocky might be "as good as a garnish on a fancy dessert." Blogger Brent Warner has been writing witty, detailed posts on the never-ending parade of snack food found in Japan's convenience stores since June 2006. He talks of Webzines, blogs and how the Japanese try-it-and-trash-it approach to consumerism has produced a superior style of convenience store.

What prompted you to start a blog?

I used to run a fairly popular Webzine in my college days. I had all these dreams of expanding it into an SNS (social networking)-type site before I knew what an SNS was. Then Friendster came out and I realized I didn't have the means to do something like that. Through the zine, I got work at a promotions company in San Diego and did a "handmade" tour diary for (Seattle pop group) Death Cab for Cutie, where they would mail me from the road and I would cut, paste and format the thing every day. Total pain in the ass. At the time I don't think there was any instant blogging material available, but a few months later I found out about Blogger (a blog host), then Movable Type (a blogging platform).