Ministop Celebrates Okinawa
And 7-11 serves elegant French soup.
Ministop is starting an Okinawa campaign. Known for its sunny weather and beautiful beaches, Okinawa screams summer, so the timing is apt. Before jumping into the campaign, let’s learn a bit about this tropical archipelago.
Okinawa was known as the Ryukyu Kingdom until Japan annexed the islands in 1879. The Kingdom had existed since the fifteenth century and was prosperous, largely thanks to a strong trade relationship with China. Japan’s governing influence began in 1609 when the Satsuma clan successfully invaded. It established control over the islands and, like China, required it to pay tribute. The Kingdom remained under dual subordination to China and Satsuma until its annexation.
The Satsuma invasion took place just after the end of the Warring States period (also known as the Sengoku period, 1467-1615) and consolidation of power under the Tokugawa Shogunate. The Satsuma clan's invasion of the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1609 was driven by several factors:
Economic Motivation: The Ryukyu Kingdom was a prosperous trading nation, maintaining commerce with several countries including China and Korea. By controlling the Ryukyus, Satsuma could benefit from this lucrative trade.
Political Motivation: During this period, the centralized authority of the Japanese shogunate was still developing, and regional clans like Satsuma sought to increase their own power and influence. The invasion of the Ryukyu Kingdom was part of this broader pattern of political maneuvering.
Strategic Position: The Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa, hold a strategic position in East Asia. By controlling them, Satsuma could maintain a presence near the Chinese sphere of influence and major trading routes. Even today the United States maintains a large (and controversial) military base in Okinawa because of its strategic location.
Asserting Daimyo Power: The invasion served to assert the power of the Shimazu clan, which ruled Satsuma. In this era of samurai warfare, aggressive expansion and conquest were ways to demonstrate and reinforce a daimyo's power.
Japan's annexation of the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1879 and its establishment as Okinawa Prefecture were driven by similar motivations and made urgent by the encroaching threat of Western colonialism. Just twenty-six years earlier the US, through Commodore Matthew Perry and his fleet of Black Ships, forced Japan to open its borders for trade with the West ending two centuries of isolation.
Alarmed by the potential of Western subjugation, Japan quickly took steps to centralize its power. The government was consolidated under the leadership of a divine emperor and Japan modernized its military, infrastructure, economy, and education system. By taking control of Okinawa, the Japanese government was able to govern critical seaways and it provided a forward base of operations. Japan was not only fortifying its defenses but also preparing for its future expansion as an empire.
The relationship between Okinawa and Japan remains complex. Following its annexation, the Japanese government instituted assimilation policies resulting in enormous cultural loss ranging from language to religion. In World War II the Japanese military employed brutal tactics including mass civilian suicides. In Japan at War: an Oral History by Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore Cook, civilian survivors recount instructions by military leaders on how to detonate one’s family with a single grenade to avoid capture, as well as Japanese soldiers forcing mothers to kill their crying infants to silence them.
History like that is hard to forget.
Okinawa’s strategic importance is greater than ever. Halfway between Japan and Taiwan, it would undoubtedly be the base of operations for a counterattack by the United States should China invade.
Ok — this casual newsletter is getting a bit too heavy. Let’s get back to the conbini!
The campaign features ingredients and flavors unique to Okiniwa. For example, there’s the Shikwasa Mixed drink, which features a citrus fruit native to Okinawa that’s not just tasty but fun to say – shhiiiikuuwaaaassssaaaaa.
Then there are the Beni-Imo Mont Blanc, Beni-imo Pudding, Beni-imo Danish, and Happy Beni-imo Crepe! Beni-imo is a type of sweet potato commonly served in Okinawa. The tuber is undoubtedly cheap and Ministop is taking full advantage of its low cost.
Then there is the Taco Meat Hot Dog. You may be wondering, “What do tacos have to do with Okinawa?” Well, there are two large American military bases there. And in 1984 an innovator named Matsuzo Gibo figured he could woo American soldiers by serving something that tasted a bit closer to home. So, he came up with taco rice, a beloved and truly delicious dish that combines Tex-mex style ground meat with Japanese short grain sticky rice. Taco rice is available throughout Japan. And the restaurants that serve it commonly have a tropical theme, surely a nod to the dishes Okinawan origins.
Enough reading! Get to Ministop and grab some tropical food!
Item of the Week
7-11 is coming out with a handheld vichyssoise, a pureed soup made from leeks, potatoes, and chicken stock that is traditionally served cold. With summer weather right around the corner 7-11 is smart to launch a chilled soup.
What’s even more clever is it comes with a straw! Forget the madness of ladling soup into a bowl and eating it by the spoonful. Just wrap your lips around that plastic cylinder and suck hard until that ice cold pureed potato is splashing against the back of your skull.
Never forget that “conbini” is short for “convenience store”. And this item oozes convenience. Customers can enjoy a delicate French soup without the trouble of making it, heating it, or serving it. It’s perfect.
Now just imagine 7-11 USA trying to serve vichyssoise. If the Bud Light and Target controversies are any indication, MAGA heads would probably raid every store claiming it was trying to turn their sons gay by injecting them with fancy French soup.
Considering how tasty this looks, if that’s the price to pay, then so be it.
From the Dumpster
Don’t be fooled by the spectacular colors. The “Get Dietary Fiber: Konyaku Noodle Salad” from FamilyMart is a hellscape of nasty textures that will leave your stomach churning and blood running cold.
It’s got nameko mushrooms, okra, and konyaku. The first two are slimy, like warm boogers arduously mined with an index finger and so ghastly long you wonder whether part of your brain is trailing at the tip. Meanwhile, konyaku is a tasteless trampoline, so bouncy you could play basketball with it.
But wait. There’s more! Sitting on the bottom is apple vinegar jelly.
Dear god.
It’s worth nothing that konyaku plant looks like this:
It’s a flowering penis. The bland rubber fed to people is made from the root or corm.
More clever civilizations use it to gelatinize sweets to make bite-sized candy. Japan serves it as is like a harder Jell-o without the flavor. Avoid it if you can.
Conbini Haiku
Okinawa's glow
Konbini lights guide the night
Island life in flow.
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Excellent Haiku guys. Really nice. You checked all the boxes; 5-7-5, Insight, Observation and even Nature. Also, liked your comments about selling vichyssoise at a US 7-11. The MAGA heads and anti-workers would go apoplectic.