Chiki on a Stick: FamilyMart's New Weapon in the Chiki Wars

And Ministop releases a whipped cream sandwich

The conbini has a long history of serving delicious, boneless fried chicken. It’s not the first thing that springs to mind when you consider Japanese cuisine. But if you live in Japan long enough, you’ll inevitably begin making weekly or daily stops to the conbini for a slab of chiki. Knowing it’s best while still hot and unable to wait until you get home, you’ll eat it parked in your Prius. That warm gush of chiki juice spraying over your palate like a garden hose sends your endorphins through the roof. Even Jiro couldn’t make you this happy. It’s a sensation we all should get to experience.

It took me four years before I enjoyed my first Famichicki. Growing up in America had made me fearful of the hot box. Hot dogs and taquitos twirling on rollers for who knows how long had put me off the conbini’s hot snacks. Fortunately, I was blessed with a conbini mentor, my podcast partner Mike, who had a habit of eating two chikis per day. Inspired by his appetite, I walked into FamilyMart and ordered my first Famichicki. 

Parked in my Daihatsu Mira, I pulled it from its plastic bag. “This feels like a water balloon,” I thought while gently waving it. When my teeth broke the skin hot chiki juice squirted not just into my mouth but onto my face, glazing my eyeglasses in grease. 

It was a revelation. “Is that you, God?” I thought. 

No. That was just the blurry haze from my chiki-juice soaked glasses. My life would never be the same.

The euphoria is real.

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Tourists spend all their time researching ramen, sushi, and kaiseki before heading off to Japan. Those are all worthy cuisines to explore. But boneless fried chicken from the conbini should be right alongside them. It’s that good. 

FamilyMart is releasing a new boneless chiki – the Koro Chiki Stick. The obvious feature is the stick. Who doesn’t like eating food on a stick? Kebab, cotton candy, chiki – sign me up. The marketing copy and images tell a happy tale of a crispy batter partnering with soft, juicy chicken. It looks delightful. 

This could represent a pivot from FamilyMart’s attempt at competing with Lawson’s revered chicken nuggets – Karaagekun. Launched in 1986, Karaagekun has been a conbini staple for over three decades. Alongside its staple three flavors – regular, cheese, and red (spicy) – it’s released over two hundred limited-edition flavors. It is a behemoth. FamilyMart tried to establish a beachhead with Pokechiki. But those nuggets never made it beyond the sand dunes. I haven’t seen a new Pokechiki come out in months. Meanwhile, Lawson has been innovating. Karaagekun now gets seasoning, sauce, or cheese injected under the chicken skin for bolder flavor. Instead of stuffed crust, it’s stuffed skin. 

Pokechiki never stood a change against Karaagekun.

Perhaps realizing the futility of waging war against this unstoppable chicken nugget machine, FamilyMart decided to take an empty battlefield – skewered fried chicken nuggets. Smart move. Add it to your Japan to-do list.  

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More Tales of Chiki Juice

Listen to Mike and Matt share legendary feats of chiki juice in an old episode of the Conbini Boys podcast.

Legendary Famichiki Tales: Extraordinary Feats of Juice

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Item of the Week

Everyone knows Korean food is amazing. 7-11 has begun a Korea Fair campaign. And the lineup looks tremendous. 

The highlight is the Bibimbap Onigiri. They’ve managed to stuff that glorious rainbow of pickled vegetables, spicy chili paste, and rice into a rice ball. I haven’t been this excited since watching Hit Me Baby One More Time for the first time in middle school. 

The rice is seasoned with gochujang and ground beef. It’s got a mix of pickled vegetables: daikon radish, carrot, komatsu lettuce, and spring onions. It is perfect. 

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From the Dumpster

Ministop is launching a Hokkaido Fair campaign. It features twenty items ranging from onigiri to wine that all showcase products from Hokkaido. As the dairy capital of Japan it’s no surprise to see cream on the menu. But a whipped cream sandwich? No thank you. 

“Fruit Sando” have been popular for decades in Japan. Found in all conbini they feature white bread stuffed with whipped cream and fruit. Common fruits are strawberry, kiwi, and orange. They are a wonderful illustration of how Japan transforms Western culture into something uniquely its own. I bet you could visit every bakery in Europe and not find a fruit sando. 

“Yoshoku” (洋食) literally means Western food, but more often it labels Western-inspired food that Japan has evolved into something similar but decidedly different. For example, “Hambagu” (not to be confused with “hambaga”, which is a hamburger) is a soft, juicy beef patty typically served with demi-glace. It’s shaped like a hamburger but there is no bun. And it reminds you of meatloaf but it’s much softer and juicier. It’s utterly delicious. Is it Western? Sort of. But I’ve never seen it outside Japan. Is it Japanese? I guess. But the Japanese call it Western! 

Hanbagu is not a hanbaga.

Were Japanese culture a quilt, these Western dishes would start as brightly colored threads distinct from all the others. But they get woven in so tightly they not just blend in but enrich the unique pattern. 

The fruit sando – and this awful whipped cream sando – are terrific examples of such threads.

Conbini Haiki

The world is spinning

I can sense death approaching

Too much Strong Zero

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