# Has anyone eaten gas station food in Japan. How was it **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 3, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-eaten-gas-station-food-in-japan-how-was-it/823936 "2018-11-03T17:42:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2018, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-eaten-gas-station-food-in-japan-how-was-it/823936/21 "2018-11-07T14:03:24Z")
[Interesting video here comparing/contrasting the US and Japan](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr4MmmWQtZM), in which the creator suggests that the widespread availability of “reasonably healthy” food options at ubiquitous convenience stores in Japan contributes to a healthy population there. Yes, if you want, you can get fried pork sandwiches and donuts - but you can also get rice/seaweed, fermented beans, an array of fish-based dishes, salads, and other healthy stuff, all packaged and ready to go, some hot, some cold. The options in US convenience stores and fast-food restaurants generally aren’t so varied and skew strongly toward unhealthy. To some extent, this may be a chicken-and-egg thing, i.e. US convenience stores might stock healthier items if they thought customers would buy them. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2018, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-eaten-gas-station-food-in-japan-how-was-it/823936/22 "2018-11-07T14:48:28Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > [Interesting video here comparing/contrasting the US and Japan](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr4MmmWQtZM), in which the creator suggests that the widespread availability of “reasonably healthy” food options at ubiquitous convenience stores in Japan contributes to a healthy population there. Yes, if you want, you can get fried pork sandwiches and donuts - but you can also get rice/seaweed, fermented beans, an array of fish-based dishes, salads, and other healthy stuff, all packaged and ready to go, some hot, some cold. The options in US convenience stores and fast-food restaurants generally aren’t so varied and skew strongly toward unhealthy. > > To some extent, this may be a chicken-and-egg thing, i.e. US convenience stores might stock healthier items if they thought customers would buy them. Vending machines, too. Corn soup, milk packets, juice packets, tea, etc. ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2018, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-eaten-gas-station-food-in-japan-how-was-it/823936/23 "2018-11-07T15:30:01Z")
The food at 7-11 in Japan is really good. Great onigiri in particular (which I guess aren’t that complicated to make, but in comparison to the prepared food in US it’s night and day) ETA: most convenience stores also have a wide variety of freshly-fried foods available if you’re into that… still sitting under a heat lamp but leagues better than what I’ve seen in local convenience stores ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-eaten-gas-station-food-in-japan-how-was-it/823936/24 "2018-12-08T04:09:07Z")
Bumped for [this](https://soranews24.com/2018/12/07/fried-chicken-cooking-robot-to-start-working-at-japanese-convenience-store/). I want a home version. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-eaten-gas-station-food-in-japan-how-was-it/823936/25 "2018-12-08T04:47:28Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Bumped for [this](https://soranews24.com/2018/12/07/fried-chicken-cooking-robot-to-start-working-at-japanese-convenience-store/). > > I want a home version. Japanese have a tendency to go against modernization in anything to do with food and home. Not so much in terms of the consumer, but more on the side of business. They’ll have created the robot purely with the aim of getting some advertising and once they’re done, they’ll throw the robot out without ever checking how well the chicken sold or whether it could be affordably mass produced. There will probably only be the one machine and, if you know someone, you can probably get it as a gift once they’re done with it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-eaten-gas-station-food-in-japan-how-was-it/823936.md?page=1)