The freakiest thing to me is the Lawsons. This was a tiny little convenience store chain that existed in a few counties near Cleveland, OH. It went out of business around 1980, but through some baffling chain of events managed to migrate to Japan where they seem to be only slightly less common than 7/11s.
7-Eleven Japan also got so big that they bought out 7-Eleven USA. But now the Canadian owner of Circle K is bidding to buy 7-Eleven Japan so I guess it's the circle of corporate life.
7-11 trips at any given time of the day are one of my most precious Japan memories from my 3 week trip.
I cannot even explain why, maybe it it the Nintendo-like jiggles and atmosphere of comfort. We have similar markets where I am from any I know 24/7 chains from around the planet and it isn't really what this is about. The products are not super special either ... still it eminates magic for me and when I went to Taiwan a few years later I was EAGER to enter a Japan-style 7-11.
Lawson is big in Thailand, but I only see them at the BTS Sky Train stations. Well, I might have seen one in a mall but I'm not 100% sure, also in an airport.
Interesting to hear they're from Ohio. Their logo is incongruousy milk-just-like.
Here's their Insta, it seems to be their main online presence:
My wife and I enjoyed Tokyo for ten days in October of 2023. After a long day of site seeing, we would stop in at a Lawsons for a variety of snacks to eat while we rested up for the next day. The store was always clean and the small meals were very tasty.
(not related to Lawsons: we discovered the "joy" of a bidet in our hotel room. Upon returning home we immediately ordered a Toto.)
I just wish installing one in North America was a bit easier. Need access to power (usually no outlets near the toilet) and water (requires some minor plumbing work).
What do you need power for? Bidets are relatively popular in Poland and they are just taps for warm water that you can direct wherever with a convenient basin. Not sure what you need the gadgetry for. And yes, bidet is an absolutely essential thing to have in a bathroom.
Do Polish bathrooms tend to have an instant water heater installed in the bathroom like much of Europe? American homes have one main heater, often far from the bathroom. I have to run my shower for nearly a full minute before I get any hot water. A warm water tap that isn’t in constant use won’t get warm using the amounts of water a bidet requires. We need a power supply that can heat the water either a tank in the bidet or on demand. That power supply is uncommon here.
I know we always had a hot water tank in or near the bathroom so hot water was nearly instant. I honestly can't tell you if it's widespread or not though.
There are cheap versions that don't require power and tap into existing plumbing. Obviously not the deluxe Toto experience but still worthy of consideration.
I have 3 toilets in my house. One I was able to tap into the power supply at the light switch and install on outlet for a fancy Toto model. My other two bathrooms would require opening up walls and running new wiring through many studs in order to add a power outlet, so they get the cheap cold water models.
I've tried them a few times (in Japan, Europe, and in the US) and I just don't get the love affair... We even had the plumbing and electrical power put in next to the toilet in our master bedroom when we remodeled our house, but have never bought the bidet seat.
