Convenience Stores of Japan: 7-Eleven (Japan)

Japan is the spiritual home of the convenience store, which is somewhat surprising as the country's first konbini (コンビニ) - short for convenience - was opened as recently as 1974 in Tokyo. It was, by the way, a 7-Eleven.

And here's another fact you might find surprising: 7-Eleven is a Japanese company with subsidiaries around the world (including North America). It used to be US-American (though the operations in Japan were initiated by its then partner and now majority shareholder ItoYokado - link) but the majority of shares were acquired by ItoYokado in 1991.

7-Eleven is the largest convenience store chain in Japan with over 10800 stores (compared to fewer than 6000 in the USA, a country with more than twice Japan's population).

One of more than 10,000 7-Eleven stores in Japan