I tried Japan's cheap but yummy convenience store egg sandwiches at 3 chains

I’ve been to Japan over a dozen times and eaten enough convenience store egg salad sandwiches to call myself an authority.

I’ve had them for breakfast, at the standing tables at a 7-Eleven in Osaka.

I’ve had them for lunch, with a slice of Family Mart chicken stuffed in the middle, a budget traveler’s prime source of sustenance.

And I’ve eaten them at 2 a.m., washed down with ice-cold Ito-En green tea straight out of a hotel room minibar.

I am not alone in my love for egg sandos.

On my latest trip, foreigners like myself were cleaning out the shelves at Tokyo konbinis at lunch time.

Even the late food great Anthony Bourdain lauded the humble Lawson egg sando for its “unnatural, inexplicable deliciousness.” If you’re wondering why I — and legions of foreigners — were rooting around convenience stores, these shops aren’t anything like their US counterparts.

Japanese convenience stores sell everything from full, reheatable meals to exclusive merchandise, like Muji socks and special konbini-only makeup lines.

The stores went viral during the 2021 Olympic Games, when athletes and journalists happened upon 24-hour outlets that stocked, seemingly, everything they needed.

According to data released by the Japan Franchise Association, sales at Japanese convenience stores hit a high in 2025, breaking records for the fourth straight year.

All-store sales went up 2.2% from the year before, hitting 12.05 trillion Japanese yen, or $75.8 billion.

This summer, I went back to Tokyo and embarked on a mission: to give you the down low on one of Japan’s cheapest but most comforting (in my humble opinion) convenience store offerings.

I went to Family Mart, Lawson, and 7-Eleven, and chowed down.