You’re getting a post out of this! Tokyo Fox must surely have run out of material I hear you cry but before I lose you all I should note that this particular convenience store is quite unique in one sense. Japan, particularly Tokyo, is packed full of 24 hour convenience stores and you are rarely ever too far from a 7 Eleven, Family Mart, Lawson, Mini-Stop or Sunkus (other convenience stores are available!). Their bright facades make them very noticeable and Japan’s third most common convenience store (after 7-Eleven and Family Mart) is noticeable for its bright blue and white frontage with the milk can logo.

However, as you may have noticed from the pictures above, this particular conbini (as convenience stores are called in Japan) is predominately red. There are more than 11,000 Lawson stores across Japan but as far as I know this is the only one which is red. Why is that so I hear you ask!

It’s all down to the location. It’s located right outside the ridiculously-named Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium Hiroshima which is home to Hiroshima Carp baseball team whose main colour (other than white) is red. The interior is a little different to a regular Lawson’s too as it’s decorated and stocked full of Carp goodies.

Back in May 2015 I admitted that I had changed my baseball allegiance from Chiba Lotte Marines to Hiroshima Carp on the back of watching a live game and in support of my father-in-law’s team. At that time, they were languishing in the lower depths of the league having been plodding along there for many years. Little did I know that one year later they would miraculously win the Central League thus qualifying for the Japan Series for the first time since the early 1990’s. Sadly they lost the best of seven series in six games against Nippon Ham Fighters from Hokkaido.

I recall seeing this on my friend Chizu’s Facebook page a year or two ago and being amazed by it and pestered her a few times for information about the whereabouts of such a wonder! For some reason, I thought there were a couple with one near the stadium and one in Kure but she confirmed there wasn’t one in the latter. Whilst passing through JR Hiroshima station in the August holiday, I decided to take a 15 minute detour on foot to see this conbeni! I couldn’t resist a selfie or two and was a little embarrassed to be seen taking any kind of photo outside such a place!

One is rarely ever too far from Carp merchandise when in Hiroshima as so many supermarkets, convenience stores and other such shops stock all kinds of merchandise relating to their much-beloved local baseball team.

Manhole covers is very much an only-in-Japan thing and there are thousands of different regional and local designs. Needless to say, there are some Carp-related ones  surrounding the stadium like the one above.

Click here to read ‘Live Baseball At The Mazda Stadium’

Bonus: For those not in the know, Lawson stores usually look like what is seen below. That was taken in Ofuna earlier this year (in the name of the direction to a sight!). The other photo is of a black and white 7 Eleven store sign which I spotted in Izu back in May.  Usually it’s sign is green/orange/white colours in order to fit in with the environment or something like that.

Click here to read ‘Just Look At The Size Of This Train Station In Hiroshima’