コンビ二 you let me down

Well, after my first night back in Tokyo after 3 years, I woke up in less than stellar shape. Naturally, I headed to the nearest conbini, which was only 2 minutes away....and they had absolutely nothing for my pounding headache (頭がガンガンしていた).

For real Japan? Your conbinis are half the reason I have a hangover, and your conbinis have EVERYTHING! How could I have missed this before? I suppose I was blinded by the vast selection of bread, desserts, beer, snacks, facial wash, magazines, onigiri, gum, hair wax, makeup, t-shirts, cell phone chargers, chu-hai, cup noodles, and thousands of genki drinks.

Even my phone was hungover when I took this picture

I had to walk about 20 minutes towards the station, passing 2 Lawsons and 3 Family Marts, just to get to a drug store. I really should have brought my bike to Tokyo.

If you need medicine, look for the 薬 sign. Drug stores (yakkyoku 薬局) will have everything you need to treat your hangover, and any other ailment you may be experiencing. Heads up though, Japanese medicine will help you fight your colds, but many of my American friends who grew up taking antibiotics with their morning cereal are not satisfied with the strength of Japanese medicine.

Yakkyoku also tend to have cheaper prices on snacks than conbinis. Its not uncommon to find Jyagariko and Onigiri Senbei for around 60-80 yen where prices are as high as 160yen in conbinis. The down side is that yakkyoku are few and far between compared to the Family Marts on every corner, so stock up on that ibuprofen and Pocari Sweat beforehand.

A 写真 is worth 千 words

Humor me and click this link. Or better yet, just look about 2 inches down and check out this picture from google maps. I'm planning out a tokyo trip and stumbled upon this picture that says more about Japan than you probably realize. There is so much to be learned from this photo, so just take a second to soak it in.
I'm sure you noticed a few things but now I'm going to dissect this picture from left to right and point out everything that is Japan.

1) Black suit brown shoes. Everyone wears brown shoes with all spectrum's of suit colors. Its cool, so get used to it.

2)Green pay phone. Since its a payphone, its really old. They take coins and magnetic phone cards, but not all of them make international calls. Whatever, you won't need these paleolithic era contraptions.

3) Recycling bins. If you think it sucks separating the paper out of your recycling then you won't enjoy Japan's take on it. Green tea and soda bottles come with perforated labels so you can peel them off and separate them easier. And don't you dare put the burnable trash in with the plastic trash...

4) People reading magazines without buying them. This is grounds for being shot in most stateside convenience stores, but you see this EVERYWHERE in Japan. The only magazines worth buying come with free porn dvd's inside....I wish I was kidding.

5) Parking Spaces? Oh right, there are none...city life baby! Get a bike or walk, cause you're going to pay a small fortune to put gas in your ride and park it.

6) You can't see it, but this AMPM is owned by Family Mart, and Family Mart (like everything in Japan) has a catchy jingle. Go ahead and listen if you dare. Anata to conbini famiri- ma-to!!!

Thankfully AM/PM's jingle isn't as good

Well, now I have to go drink heavily to get those songs out of my head. Excuse me.