So, now all restaurants are Taco Bell

My husband’s command gave us a huge welcome basket the day after we arrived in Japan. It was a laundry basket actually, which was the perfect vessel for a family with nothing but suitcases and a ton of laundry.

We retreated to our hotel and pawed through, delighted to see familiar American snacks and an assortment of Japanese goodies. We had a wonderful time playing, “What do you think you’re eating?” our first nights here.

As I stuffed my face with little cookies, I couldn’t help but notice that most of the snacks – cookies included – had the 7-Eleven logo on them, or a 7&i Premium logo. “7-Eleven Premium? That’s an oxymoron,” I said, polishing off the bag.

Fast forward a week to my first trip to our local Japanese grocery store. Exciting, exhilarating, confusing. A lot of “Ooh what’s that!” and “Wow that fish is gorgeous!” A little “not sure about that,” and one “not on my life.” As I wandered, marveled, and apologized for bumping into shoppers who could actually read the food labels, I realized that half the store – maybe more – had packaging bearing the 7-Eleven logo.

There’s a line in the classic 90s future-dystopian flick Demolition Man where Lieutenant Huxley (Sandra Bullock) explains that Taco Bell won the franchise wars, “[s]o now all restaurants are Taco Bell.”

Japan is not a future-dystopia. Sylvester Stallone is not chasing Wesley Snipes, nor is he placing society in Denis Leary’s hands (thank God). But as that logo appeared everywhere I felt like Stallone’s character, the out of touch John Spartan, trying to comprehend that all restaurants are now Taco Bell. So to speak.

The 7-Eleven I know is 1) a convenience store that 2) sells Big Gulps, beef jerky, and questionable hot dogs and 3) has a parking lot that is the situs of petty drug crimes and teenage loitering.

This is not that.

7-Eleven, it turns out, is one of several subsidiary children of parent company 7 & I Holdings, Co., the fifth largest retailer in the world and the largest distributor and retailer in Japan.

Wow.

In the family of 7 & I, imagine American  7-Eleven as the child who refuses to brush his teeth and survives solely on chicken nuggets and unrefrigerated milk product. The kid more than earns his keep, so the parents don’t complain about his yellow teeth.*

7-Eleven Japan has impeccable taste, perfect test scores, is always ready with a handkerchief if you need one, and plays the oboe.

The 7-Eleven store fronts here sell sushi. And not the sushi you pick up and say, “Well, if it doesn’t kill me I’m getting a great deal.” No. Real, delicious sushi. Fresh fruit, beef tongue jerky, 10-ingredient salads, yogurt water. Not a big gulp in sight.

What’s more, 7 & I sells a premium line of foods in grocery stores, which is why most aisles in my grocery store look like this:

From grocery staples to fine jams and sauces to pre-prepared meals and a full selection of gourmet desserts – it’s all 7i Premium.

I don’t know how I feel about all restaurants being Taco Bell. I had this idealized notion of Japan: while McDonalds and KFC and even Starbucks have taken hold, I was for the most part escaping the endless regurgitated streets lined with the same 10 fast food chains, fast casual restaurants, and Walmarts. I love America, but strip malls depress me.

In the past eight years moving with the military, I’ve become discouraged at the loss of geographic diversity that existed when I was a kid taking cross country road trips in our conversion van. America used to burst with regional flavor; now you have to search to find it.

Franchises are inevitable in modern countries. Japan has an almost unicorn-like ability to mix the modern with the ancient and keep it harmonious. It’s very aware of the country’s  wa…for now.

Older people complain about the younger generation ruining it all (I guess that’s universal, too). Young people don’t take off their shoes when they should. They don’t show enough respect at sacred sites. They’re lost in technology.

Will this younger generation choose capitalism at the expense of harmony? My intuition is they won’t. Despite the Starbucks and McDonalds and even 7-Eleven, there is a respect for nature, peace, and harmony within this culture that is inextricable. Even now, cell phone retailers bump up against Shinto shrines and multi-story malls sit a hundred meters from Buddhist temples.

For my part, I’m sampling all that 7i Premium has to offer. Prepackaged pancakes with butter and syrup tucked inside? Yes, onegai shimasu.

*My description of the American 7-Eleven is not intended in any way to disparage the chain. A 7-Eleven in rural New York once saved me from driving another 40 miles for food when I was starving and exhausted. I ate a legit egg salad sandwich and a bag of Gardettos and lived to tell the tale.