Convenience stores in Japan are basically open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It’s not only convenience stores. There are also family restaurants that are open 24 hours a day (or open until midnight). It’s the same with karaoke shops and Manga cafes. There’re quite many demands for them in urban areas. Well, it’s a relatively safe country, which means the shops or stores can be open 24 hours-open.

So, here’s something to keep in mind for everyone about this 24-hour (or operation until midnight). Family restaurants, karaoke boxes, manga cafes, etc. have a “late night surcharge”. The hours covered are basically 10am-5pm. Please be sure to check it out when you go to the stores or shops?

A few tangents. Have you see a cafe or restaurant that opens late at night in a movie or something? It’s often the setting for a rather important scene. To the people in the area, it may be an everyday scene. However to the Japanese, it may be a very attractive place. We can’t clearly convey such a sentiment. It will exude a very strange charm, or what we would call a kind of fashionable? atmosphere. Could you sympathize with us?