Project X Challengers: Seven Eleven

by Tadashi Ikuta and Naomi Kimura
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7-Eleven started off in 1927 in Dallas, Texas. Now it is one of the largest chain stores in the world, with branches in eighteen countries. Did you know that the whole thing is owned by Seven & I Holdings Co., Ltd. in Japan?

If you expect the story of 7-Eleven in Japan to be boring, think again. The people who do Project X are very good at putting together stories like this. They focus on the people involved, and they create a fairly good mixture of drama, facts, and occasionally comedy. Yeah, I laughed once or twice while reading this.

I have a couple criticisms of this book and the whole series. First, the translation from Japanese isn’t great. It’s okay, but not perfect. Second, they focus a little too much on the drama and human interest and not enough on the story itself. Other than that, though, I’m pretty happy with it.

Project X Challengers: Seven Eleven tells the story of the first 7-Eleven to open in Japan. 7-Eleven was not originally interested in expanding to Japan, and most people in Japan weren’t really interested in getting 7-Eleven to open stores there. A couple of Japanese executives had to work really hard to get their own company interested in talking to 7-Eleven. Then they had to work hard to get the American 7-Eleven interested in looking at Japan. Once both companies were talking, they had to find some place to open a store and make it popular. Fortunately for them, a young man who owned a liquor store volunteered to convert it into Japan’s first 7-Eleven. However, business was slow, and for a while, it looked like 7-Eleven would never work in Japan. Then it exploded, and now the Japanese branch is the most powerful. (Not to mention inventing “conbini,” Japanese convenience stores, which have practically become a way of life in Japan. Here’s a Washington Post article.)

If you enjoy this, there are two others in the Project X Challengers series. One is about the first instant ramen, and the other is about the Datsun 240Z sports car. All three focus on the people and try to blend drama and humor in with history.

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Where to Find It

[linkplus name=”Project X Challengers: Seven Eleven” url=”http://csul.iii.com/record=b24775827~S0″]
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