日本：追求极致的便利The Extremely Convenient Japan

文/Diego

日本：追求极致的便利The Extremely Convenient Japan

文/Diego

Diego：一个充满想象力的美国文艺青年，弹着夏威夷四弦琴，画着漫画，做着营养师。带着家人看这世界的花花绿绿，草长莺飞，就是人生最大的满足。

If there is ever a ranking of tourist destinations by convenience,I will vote for Japan with no doubt.

The everywhere convenient stores

Japan is a not a big country,however,within its 377,972 square meters’area,there are over 50,000convenientstores.Inbig cities suchasTokyoand Osaka,you can literally find yourself surrounded by convenience stores in all directions.

Infact,Japandidnotimportthemodelof convenientstoresfromtheUnitedStatesuntilthe 1970s,andeversincethen,convenientstores flourishedthroughthewholecountry,andsoon surpassed supermarkets.In 2015,the annual turnover for convenient stores in Japan went beyond 10 trillion Japanese yen,which is equal to 607.5 billion RMB.

There are three biggest convenient store brands in Japan:Family Mart,Seven-Eleven and Lawson.Most of these convenient stores are open 24 hours a day,365 days a year.There are a wide range of products sold inthesestores:lotsofready-to-eatfood,drinks,cookingingredients,cosmetics,dailyessentials,household supplies,books,stationary and stamps,pet food,phone chargers,etc.With time passing by,the convenient stores keep extending their services and aim tomakepeople’slifemoreconvenienttoenhance their competitiveness.Shoppers now can buy tickets for showsandtheme parksinvariesconvenientstores.They can go pay their bills,use photocopy machines and print out photos in these convenient stores as well.Not long ago,Seven-Eleven opened their own banks,just to enable customers,especially foreign tourists to withdrawJapanesecurrencywithforeigncreditor debit cards.

InJapan,lifecanbesoeasywithallthose convenient stores.

Coin lockers make sightseeing easier

Inairports,train and subway stations,or even tourist attractions inJapan,coinlockers are quietly spreading out,proving a secure and convenient place for travelers to store luggage.

Basedonthesizesandlocationsofdifferent lockers,customers need to pay between 300 to 900 JPY(about 20 to 50 RMB)for the service.It can be paidwithcashorlocalICcard.Theonscreen instructionsareinmultiplelanguages,including Chinese,English,Japanese,etc.Usually when the green light on the locker is flashing,then it indicates the availability of the locker,otherwise,red light means it’s taken.Customers need to take the print out receipt withthemasaproofofstorage.Coinlockersare usually for a 24-hour period use,when customers go back to pick up the luggage,they need to scan the receipt to open the locker.

Automatic coin lockers are convenient and secure.It skipped the manual handling process for travelers,whichmakesthingseasierandmorestraightforward.With the help of coin lockers,luggage is not a burden to tourists anymore.

In addition to convenient stores and coin lockers,clean bathrooms are accessible throughout the nation.Almost all stations and convenient stores let people use their bathrooms free of charge.What’s more,the public transportation system in Japan is usually punctual,and it comes very frequent,which makes trip planning easy.

Japan,thecountrywheretravellingiseasy,because of the conveniences.

作为旅游目的地的国家如果以是否便利排名，毫无疑问我将投票给日本。

便利店，遍地开花

日本国土面积不大，但在约37万多平方千米的区域内，遍布超过5万家便利店。当你置身于东京、大阪等大城市，你会发现自己被街角各个方向的便利店包围着。

其实，便利店这一模式是在20世纪70年代从美国传入日本的。从那之后，便利店在日本遍地开花，营业额已经远远超过超市。仅以2015年为例，便利店的销售总额就已经超过10万亿日元，约合6075亿元人民币。

日本三大便利店巨头是：全家，7-11和罗森。绝大部分便利店24小时营业，且全年无休。便利店出售的商品主要包括：大量现成的食物、饮料、烹饪原料、化妆品、日常必需品、家庭用品、书籍、文具和邮票、宠物食品、充电器等等。随着便利店的发展、进步，为了提高竞争力，不同的便利店不断增加新的便民服务。比如购买演出和主题公园的门票、支付账单、打印或复印文件、照片等。不久前，7-11还开设了自己的银行，让顾客尤其是外国游客能用外国信用卡或者借记卡提取日元。

在日本，便利店让你轻松解决生活的各种基本需求。

存储柜，让观光更轻松

在机场、火车站和地铁站，甚至是旅游景点，你都很容易发现一排排默默无言的行李存储柜。这为游客存放行李提供了一个既安全又方便的地方。

根据不同存储柜的大小和位置，顾客需要支付300至900日元(约合20～50元人民币)的服务费用，可以使用现金或当地IC卡。操作屏幕提供中文、英语、日语以及其他语言服务。存储柜上如果有绿灯闪烁，则意味着它可以使用，红灯则提示它已经被占用。顾客需要打印票据作为存储行李的证明。寄存时间通常24小时有效。当顾客返回来取走行李时，需要扫描票据才能打开锁柜。

自动存储柜既方便又安全。它使游客免去了手动处理行李的过程，让事情变得更简单、更直接。在存储柜的帮助下，行李不再是游客观光的负担。

除了便利店和存储柜，干净整洁的卫生间在全国各地随处可见。几乎所有的车站和便利店都让人们免费使用卫生间。此外，日本的公共交通准时、准点，频繁运行，方便大家按计划出行。

日本，由于便利，是一个可以轻松实现“说走就走的旅行”的国家。

（中文仅供文意参考，请勿逐字逐句对比学习）

1.flourishv.繁荣；兴旺2.surpassv.胜过；优于

3.enhancev.提高；加强4.withdrawv.取回；收回

5.multipleadj.多样的；许多的6.punctualadj.准时的；守时的

李丁文