Japanese fiction set in Kitakyushu

Submitted: 17th January 2025

The Convenience Store by the Sea – Sonoko Machida

A quaint seaside town in Kitakyushu, Mojiko is full of hidden delights. And one unexpected treasure is the 24/7 convenience store, Tenderness. You never know what to expect here!

Map of locations in The Convenience Store by the Sea

BOARDING PASS INFORMATION

Destination : Kitakyushu, Japan

Author guide: Sonoko Machida

Genre: translated fantasy

Food and drink to accompany: ooh imagine what you will find there!

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A novel to transport you to a wonderful store in Japan

Map of locations in The Convenience Store by the Sea

A hug in a book. A literary version of those cute colouring books you see everywhere on social media. This is the convenience store where you can get anything and everything you want! Take a look at that cover and think – if the inside of the store is half as nice as the outside, then you are in for a treat!

And what a treat it was! It’s very Japanese – cute, feels like you are in another dimension, a cute parallel universe…..and it’s a joy to spend time here. It felt like a computer game simulation too – a wonderful sense of place. I could see, smell and hear all that went on in the store, listening to the other shoppers, sampling the food and just appreciating the colours.

I only wish convenience stores were really like this! The food for example is fantastic!! The most wonderful tastes and flavours. I got to meet several people and it felt that I was fantasy people watching!

The interconnectedness of the stories worked really well -but I can’t say I cared for the stories around the manager. Back on food though, and I only wish I could actually buy some Melancholy Strawberry Parfait . I had to settle for bubble tea since the former is fictional.

Hats off to translator Bruno Navasky – a cute, fun read!