Hard to believe, but we have reached the last Friday of 2025. I try to put a little (and only a little) more thought into my selection for both the last post of the year, and the first. So for 2025, the last post will be all about Sonoko Machida's The Convenience Store by the Sea. I first spotted this book during a Barnes & Noble visit with my mother, and the cover image stayed with me long enough that I eventually had to buy it.
The Situation: In the small seaside town of Mojiko in Japan, there is a 24/7 convenience store that is quite popular, if also a bit odd. The Golden Villa branch of the Tenderness convenience store has a loyal local following, especially with its proximity to a senior living complex, but its customers also know it has the best food any convenience store can offer. And if its exemplary food and customer service were not reason enough to visit regularly, there is also its incredibly charismatic manager, Shiba. It seems there are very few who are immune to his charms, and the man even has his own fan club made up of some of the older women who live in the attached building. Everyone who enters and works there has a story, and it does seem that Shiba genuinely cares for each one.
The Problem: Shiba's fan club can be a bit overwhelming, even for the people who work at Tenderness and are used to it. Mitsuri works there part-time now that her son is older, while also working on her manga series at night. Her son may currently be in his sullen teenager phase, and is even a bit embarrassed about his mother's interest in manga, but for the most part he is a good kid. Yoshiro is a teacher who has no passion for his job, something that is obvious to his students, one of which is Azusa, a young woman who is attempting to decide if she wants to be like the other popular girls in her class, or chart her own path and do what makes her happy. And Takiji is proud of the life he has built that led to his comfortable retirement, though there is a loneliness he cannot explain, until he meets a young boy with a loneliness of his own. They each have their own feelings about Shiba the store manager, but the Tenderness convenience store ties them all together.
Genre, Themes, History: This book is a work of fiction, and most of the action centers around a Tenderness convenience store located in the small town of Mojiko, Japan. While each of the six chapters focuses on one customer or employee of the store, Shiba and his brother Tsugi feature in all of them in some way. The customers of the store range in ages from still in school, to already retired. The youngest is wrestling between the desire to do what is expected, and the chance to do what she wants. While the oldest is realizing he may have always done what he believed was best for his family, but now he is not sure if this is the life he and his wife really want to have in their old age. Each character ends up making a connection through the convenience store, where the manager genuinely enjoys serving his customers, and it shows in the convenience store's popularity.
My Verdict: While I enjoyed the book quite a bit, there is something a bit disjointed about its structure and the way it ended. With only six chapters, each one focuses on someone different, with the first and sixth chapter following Mitsuri, a wife and mother who works at the convenience store. The store's manager, Shiba, features in each chapter, but this is not quite enough to bring each chapter in to make one cohesive story. There is something still lacking after the final page, even with the small reveals that the last chapter and the epilogue give to the reader. I suppose for me it was more of a short story collection than an actual novel, but still made for an interesting read.
Favorite Chapter: "Chapter Three: A Melancholy Strawberry Parfait," is my favorite chapter, as it follows a young school girl named Asuza who is not sure if she still wants to follow the path of her popular, but not very nice friend, Mizuki.
Favorite Character: Tsugi is known as the "Whatever Guy," and is also Shiba's brother. He proves to be a strange ally to many of the customers and workers of the store.
Recommended Reading: I recommend Haruki Murakami's After Dark.
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