Japan's convenience stores work hard to stay relevant
Ride the Seibu Shinjuku Line to Iriso Station in the city of Sayama, Saitama Prefecture, and you can enjoy shopping at Japan's oldest franchise convenience store, a Family Mart that opened in September 1973. The following May, the nation's first 7-Eleven outlet was opened ...
Airbnb Inc. says it's back in business in Japan, a year after stricter short-term lodging regulations forced it to freeze a major portion of its listings in the country. There are 50,000 listings available in the country, with another 23,000 rooms in hotels and traditional ...
Royalty feud threatens to tear apart FamilyMart's profitable joint venture in China
FamilyMart, the most successful Japanese convenience store chain in China, is embroiled in a royalty payments fight between its Japanese and Chinese joint-venture partners that could change how much money each side makes or scuttle the partnership entirely. FamilyMart UNY Holdings Co. is suing to ...
With convenience store onigiri, the devil's in the seasoning
FamilyMart and Lawson are dressing up the humble onigiri (rice ball) with new add-ons and seasonings, upping the ante on the snack's standard flavors.
Convenience store chains issue action plans, softening stance on operating hours amid labor pinch
Convenience store operators released actions plans Thursday to address acute labor shortages, which suggest they are becoming more flexible about operating hours. "We will let the owners of (franchise stores) make the final decision" on whether to reduce business hours, said Fumihiko Nagamatsu, president of ...
METI asks Japan's convenience store chains to present plans for coping with labor shortage
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko wants the eight major chains to formulate action plans because the labor shortages are straining the 24-hour industry.
FamilyMart launches facial recognition checkouts at Yokohama outlet amid Japan's labor crunch
Major convenience store operator FamilyMart Co. on Tuesday introduced checkouts that use facial recognition technology as the company looks to make adjustments amid a nationwide labor shortage. With the latest facial recognition and image analysis technologies developed by Panasonic Corp., customers at a newly opened ...
Shake up your usual konbini purchase with these not-to-be-skipped sweets
This week, Konbini Watch turns the spotlight on a few assorted convenience store highlights that shouldn't be missed.
METI tells convenience store operators to come up with plans to cope with Japan's labor crunch
The lack of workers is proving to be a huge challenge to convenience stores, which have become important cogs in the nation’s social infrastructure.
Just how convenient are convenience stores in Japan?
The recent trend of online videos showing "baito tero," or "part-timer terrorism," enacted by part-time workers has sparked another media discussion about the plight of low wage earners. Most of these videos were recorded by people working in food-related businesses, and explanations for why ...
FamilyMart's popular melon bread ice cream doesn't skip on the melon or the butter
FamilyMart has brought a new and improved version of its immensely popular melonpan (melon bread) ice cream back to store shelves — get one while they're still in stock!
Japan's convenience store giants to remove pornographic magazines from shelves
The three largest operators plan to stop selling pornographic magazines at outlets across the nation by the end of August.
