LLA 5/21 Response

LLA 5/21 Response

I was looking forward to take today's lecture by Gavin Whitelaw on konbini. Prior to this lecture, we were assigned to visit the Hachiro Yuasa Museum and look through the exhibits. It was a good opportunity because I was probably not motivated to walk to the museum unless it is mandatory. I highly enjoyed the exhibit, Konbini: Is this a mingei? Every time I come back to Japan from U.S., one of the first things I feel envious of people in Japan was the existence of konbini. As Gavin said, U.S. convenient stores are described as 4D's: dirty, dangerous, dull, depressing. I've been to Seven Eleven in U.S. several times but there aren't anything special to buy and I kept avoiding to visit after 10 P.M. In comparison, Japanese konbinis should be described as 5D's: clean, comforting, cool, couteous and finally, convenient. I admire Gavin's effort of working at several konbinis in order to practically collect data from his own experience as an anthropologist.

I learned the precise definition of culture for the first time. It is defined as "the contingent and courteous emergence of meaningful conventions." It should be something we are proud of. I personally think konbini is a representative of Japanese culture. It represents Japanese polite manner, high standard of food, meticulously planned system, and endurance of opening 24hrs everyday. Every time I come back to Japan, konbini is like a treasure island for me. 

Some of the interesting facts I learned in this lecture were that a cashier functions as a data collection machine and konbini staffs endeavor creating food friendly to seniors. Every time a new customer arrives, a cashier presses a button with a demographic that best matches to that customer. In this way, they are collecting data. Additionally, staffs repeat trial and error to pursue more softness and less size for easily-eaten food. Back to the first question, Konbini: Is this a mingei? I would claim, it definitely is!