The Magical Combini

I have had many friends, when telling me of their travels in Japan, attempt to explain the combini to me. Combini is simply a Japanese-ified term meaning “convenience store”. The combini, however, is not at all like the 7/11 of America. While there are of course the aisles of prepackaged, high calorie, somewhat perplexing is-this-food food, combini also has meat buns (and pizza buns…think hot pocket but in a plush, bread-like substance…very strange), onigiri (rice triangles with tasty surprises within, wrapped in nori—dried seaweed), and even full meals; All this for incredibly cheap prices. Japan is expensive, often stunningly so, but food doesn’t have to be. In fact many restaurants here serve dishes less than half the price of New York City. Everything I have tried at the combini—most without knowing exactly what it is—I have enjoyed.

This brings me to money. As always, it is difficult to convert to another monetary system. (I also have to convert to military time, Celsius, and, of course, the dreaded metric system) Just when I think I’ve got it, I mess something up. For example, I was shocked when I thought my new phone charger cost $115 when in fact it was only $11.50. Of course, this isn’t surprising when the cheapest phone offered at most companies is upwards of $200! They even play it off like they’re giving you a deal, though I suppose comparing with most other phones, which are $500 or more on sale and up to nearly $900, they are. Getting a cell phone (携帯電話 keitai denwa) is rather difficult for a foreigner in Japan. You need to provide every single form of ID you have (alien registration, health card, student ID if you have one, passport, visa, anything else you can think of? Bring it.) and even then they might give you trouble! (This is mostly because I only had the receipt for my alien registration, as the actual card doesn’t arrive for another few weeks.) While it is becoming more and more common in the United States, I still find it incredible that I can surf the web on my phone. In addition the internet is incredibly fast, faster than I’ve seen any iPhone move. Furthermore, Japanese cell phones have infrared technology (like the iPhone) which allows you to simply beam your number (and all associated information) to someone else’s phone within seconds. I live in the future!