My acquaintance recommends this book.

they have pizza and hotdogs at japanese 7-11?

i always got the bento boxes from the refrigerated section. those are delicious.

I bought some 串刺し and tempura from a supermarket that I don't remember being covered very well, but it seemed to have fast rotation there. I found the 肉じゃが type stuff that sits there on a simmer uncovered in some コンビニ more disturbing. I saw possibly the worst looking fries I've ever seen in some crappy little box for 500円 or so in a コンビニ too. I think there were literally about 10 shrivelled, off-colour excuses for fried potato in there.

Yup you're good to go. 7-11, am-pm, Lawson were part of my diet.

Don't remember room temperature pizza and hotdogs, but these two foods were pretty horrible in Japan to begin with so I prolly just ignored them.

I liked sando, bento, man, onigiri, and a bunch of other stuff. Ow don't forget Calorie mates from MG and the wierd apple-sauce-jelly-caprisun-juice-bag-thingy. Anyway, I never had a problem with the konbini foods.

I even developed a tuna sando addiction around that lasted like a whole week. I must have eaten dozens of them. Don't judge me.

Tzadeck wrote:

There are a lot of stores in Japan, mostly in the inaka, that don't refrigerate their eggs.  You can stop worrying about the pizza and hot dogs.

A lot of food preservation and safety ideas are cultural rather than scientific.

Supermarkets in Australia don't usually refrigerate their eggs either. They don't need to be refrigerated. Doing so extends their shelf life however, so unless you have a similar turn-over to the supermarket, it's smart to refrigerate them when you get them home.

let me tell you a story. I once went to a sunkis in ueno(not a 7-11 but a　コンビニ nonetheless), I bought a bento which was good, and presumbly fresh, however when I went up to the counter I also decided to get a chicken 串刺し, when i said that cashier grinned a sinister smile  and gave me the chicken 串刺し. As I was walking to the nearby ueno park to eat my lunch I looked at my reciept and noticed he did not charge me for the chicken kushizashi, so I took a bit of chicken from it and it was the most nastiest chicken I had ever tasted in my life, even more disgusting then the cheapest of take out chinese restaraunts in the USA. never again did i eat chicken in japan. also while i was eating my food in ueno park a drunk salaryman came up to me and asked me if i liked japanese food(in english) with a big smile on his face, so maybe even he too knew that for the most part those things that sit in the grill in a konbini are just for show, and that you should never eat them.

Last edited by Zon70 (2012 March 17, 8:08 pm)

I once got food poisoning from a konbini yakisoba, and ended up on a 点滴.

I think I was just really unlucky though.

The store here in Australia where I buy eggs doesn't refrigerate them, neither do I.

I must say that of the hundred or so trips I've made to Japan, it would never have occurred to me to eat junk such as pizza or hot dogs.

Maa, buying at a コンビニ is not so good idea anyway if you want to save money, but that's a different issue.

cangy wrote:

nothing in a konbini is safe...

Everything in a konbini is safe!

kainzero wrote:

Tzadeck wrote:

There are a lot of stores in Japan, mostly in the inaka, that don't refrigerate their eggs.

eggs have high turnover so they're good.
the eggs in japan are way more fresh than in the US. you can tell just by looking at the yolk. that's why they can get away with eating it raw in so many situations.

on top of that US eggs are terrible, that's why we still have salmonella and why some countries don't.

Hasn't the colour of the yolk got more to do with how the bird was raised? Your standard egg in the UK comes from birds who barely ever get to flap their wings, let alone see the light of day and eat a good diet. Free-range birds get to eat grass and bugs, so they end up laying eggs that actually contain some vitamins. I believe it's beta carotene in particular that gives egg yolk and butter a nice orangey colour. The eggs I had in Japan did seem extra orangey though. I wonder how they raise the birds there, or if the chickens are a different breed or something. UK eggs don't have white shells.

As for freshness, I've never bought or even seen eggs in a refrigerator in the UK. They usually have a sell-by date that lasts more than a month too. The package usually says 'refrigerate after purchase to maintain freshness.' It makes sense they'd be fresher if they were treated like meat, but I've never had any problems. It doesn't seem like they stay on the shelf for more than a day either.

Javizy wrote:

Hasn't the colour of the yolk got more to do with how the bird was raised? Your standard egg in the UK comes from birds who barely ever get to flap their wings, let alone see the light of day and eat a good diet. Free-range birds get to eat grass and bugs, so they end up laying eggs that actually contain some vitamins. I believe it's beta carotene in particular that gives egg yolk and butter a nice orangey colour. The eggs I had in Japan did seem extra orangey though. I wonder how they raise the birds there, or if the chickens are a different breed or something. UK eggs don't have white shells.

ah, you're right.
you said what i wanted to say, only i didn't say it properly. lol