Weekend Cooking: The Convenience Store by the Sea by Sonoko Machida

The other week I went to the library and saw this book on the new release shelf. While I try not to just grab books on impulse, I couldn't resist this one, and I am so glad I didn't! I loved this book and read it in one sitting.

The Tenderness convenience store is located on the ground floor of a multistorey building which is a housing complex that predominantly houses retirees. The store is always open and provides a lifeline to the community. Need milk and bread? Need a dinner to take home? Need baby equipment? Need a good coffee? You can find all of this and more at the Tenderness.

What makes this branch of the store special are the people, both those who work there and the customers, who range from the eccentric to the lonely to those trying to find their way, and every point in between. 

Like many Japanese books like Before the Coffee Gets Cold and the The Restaurant of Lost Recipes, this book is made up of a number of chapters which features an individual story which is loosely linked together in most cases. Connecting all of stories are a couple of the staff members of the store.

One of those staff members is Mitsuri. She is a wife and a mother to a teenage boy. She loves her job but her real passion is drawing manga, and she is quite successful. One of her key characters, Phero-Manager, is based on her real life manager, Shiba, and the things that happen in the store. She is often asked if the character is based on someone real but she has to keep his true identity a secret. Luckily, Mitsuri is immune to his charms, which is one of the key requirements for anyone who comes to work in the store.

Shiba is a man with extraordinary magnetism. There is constantly a queue of women lined up whenever he is in the store, especially the older women who live in the building who fangirl him constantly, and often he needs to find some space just to get a break. It's not just because he is very handsome but he also seems to be a very genuinely decent person who cares about the people around him. Part of his charm is that he sees people, and he lets people know that he sees them, even if it just a comment about their nails or new lipstick or whatever.

Other characters who appear in the book included the Whatever Guy who is ostensibly a junk collection guy but he also has an uncanny ability to track people down, and Shohei who cycles around town dressed in red overalls generally keeping an eye on things but also acting as an unofficial tourist information officer.

Whilst we hear Mitsuri's tale in the first chapters, other chapters focus on a teacher who has a very different dream that he has given up on and the story of a young girl who is discovering who she is away from her childhood friends and her parents expectations. We also meet Mitsuri's son who isn't necessarily proud of his mother's manga career. On the other end of the scale there is a retiree who has moved into the building and is struggling with his wife making friends and having fun without him. 

Food is very important all the way through this book, running the gamut from egg sandwiches which is what one character eats every time they are in the store, to seasonal desserts, to advent cookies and so much more.

This book has many similarities with other Japanese books that I have read in that it has the episodic format, and I think this one has a feel good charm to it right from page one. I smiled all my way through. There are three more books in this series out in Japan and I really hope that these books get published in English as I will be lining up to read them! If you have any interest in Japanese books which are a fun read with lots of feeling then give this book a go.

Earlier this year we visited Japan and we got to do things like eat dinner in a tiny restaurant where only a few people could sit, we ate the delicious Japanese cakes from the amazing shops in the food courts at the train station and we enjoyed lots of hot pots. We meant to go to the convenience store and eat egg sandwiches and also to try the famous cream and strawberry sandwiches but we ran out of time. Having read this book, we will not miss this the next time we go to Japan.


I am sharing this review with the Books in Transation challenge hosted by Introverted Reader and with Foodie Reads hosted at Based on a True Story. This book also counts as one of my reads for Women in Translation month which is held every August.


Rating 4.5/5

Weekly meals

Saturday - Tortilla chips
Sunday - Pizza
Monday - Spaghetti Bolognaise
Tuesday - Chicken Parma with mash and broccoli
Wednesday - Shanghai Noodles
Thursday - Baked Tuscan Chicken and Rice
Friday - Out for dinner

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