If you get caught in the rain, Convenience Wear is your hidden saviour. 

Have you ever glanced at the T-shirts and sweatpants hanging in the corner of a Japanese convenience store and wondered, “Who actually buys these?” Well, there are plenty of reasons why someone might need a quick change of outfits, as our reporter Mr Sato can attest to after he got soaked in the rain when Typhoon Jangmi swept through Tokyo on 3 June.

Though he’d expected to get a little wet on the way to work as the rain was absolutely pouring down, he totally underestimated just how bad the conditions would be. What he didn’t underestimate, though, was the power of Family Mart, the Japanese convenience store that stocks a range of clothes dubbed “Convenience Wear“, so he sought one out and purchased five items from the range to solve his rainy day problem.

The products all come in compressed packaging, so it was hard for Mr Sato to get a sense of the overall size before returning to the office to try them. Hoping he’d chosen well, Mr Sato opened up the Soft Towel (1,089 yen [US$6.82]), and was happy to find its generous 34 x 80 centimetre (13.4 x 31.5 inch) proportions were perfect for patting down his wet body.

With even his underwear completely soaked, Mr Sato was grateful to purchase a new set of boxer shorts for 880 yen. As a lover of flamboyant clothing, this brightly striped pair was perfect for his wardrobe.

▼ Not only do these have a great design, they also have antibacterial and deodorising properties.

Next up was a pair of socks (429 yen), which he’d initially thought were ankle-length but they turned out to be knee-high. That was an oversight on his part, but he’ll be able to make good use of them with his chunky London boots.

Recently, there’s been some negative talk online about middle-aged men wearing shorts, but as he was in a bind, Mr Sato had no other choice but to slide into this forest green pair. At 1,998 yen, this was the most expensive article of clothing in his haul, but the shorts were a good-value nylon-and-cotton blend, making them lightweight and quick-dry.

Finally, we have the “Outer T-shirt” for 1,493 yen. Made of 100-percent cotton, it felt nice against the skin and the simple black colourway will go with just about anything.

Trying it all on, Mr Sato instantly felt like a new man. Everything was surprisingly comfortable – the T-shirt was nice and thick, the shorts light and easy to move in, and best of all, the feel and fit of the boxer briefs was outstanding.

Before today, Mr Sato never thought he’d ever have a reason to buy clothes from a convenience store, so this was a total revelation. Not only did he feel good, but he looked good too.

So if you ever find yourself totally soaked during Japan’s rainy season, Family Mart has you covered, quite literally. Plus, thanks to the quality of the material and the lightweight design, you’ll be able to pack an outfit like this into your bag for future outing changes, making them ideal for travellers.

Whether it’s teaming up with Pokémon, covering tiny ice cream bottles, or saving a drenched middle-aged man, Convenience Wear really is convenient.

Photos ©SoraNews24 
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With the rainy season here, this umbrella companion is a Daiso-premium bargain.

Having flipped the calendar to June, we’re clearly not in spring anymore, but many Japanese people would argue that we haven’t really made it to summer just yet. That’s because we’re at the start of tsuyu, or “the rainy season,” a roughly month-long stretch of wet weather that precedes the idyllic fun-in-the-sun section of summer.

As a matter of fact, Tokyo is getting drenched with heavy rains at the time of this writing, which is why we’re happy that we recently hit up Daiso and picked up an extremely handy item that we’re going to be putting to good use in the weeks to come.

This is actually one of Daiso’s premium-priced products, costing double what the chain usually charges for its items. Of course, with Daiso being Japan’s most famous 100 yen shop, that means that the Telescopic Umbrella Cover is still only 200 yen (US$1.30), and for how useful it is, that price feels like a bargain.

Even with Japan’s excellent train/subway network, life here tends to involve a lot of walking, since you’re at least going to need to get to/from the station. But while an umbrella will keep the rain off you while you’re outside, once you head inside or onto a train, you’ve now got a sopping shaft of damp fabric that’s going to wet your clothes, or the clothes of anyone standing close to you on one of Japan’s famously crowded trains.

Daiso’s Telescopic Umbrella Cover is here to solve that problem. Essentially a plastic cup with an accordion-like construction, it’s conveniently compact when scrunched down to its smallest size, but expands to accommodate umbrellas.

Simply insert your umbrella into the cover and push until it reaches your desired length.

Daiso’s case has a number of advantages compared to the disposable thin plastic bag-style slip-on covers provided at some shopping centers and stores in Japan. For one, there’s no trash generated with Daiso’s reusable cover, and unlike the disposable versions, the Daiso cover works not only with long umbrellas with pointy tips, but shorter folding umbrellas, the kind most popular with travelers, too.

Also, when you take your umbrella back out from a plastic-bag cover, you’re left with a bag of water from all the drops that dripped off the fabric. Daiso’s cover instead has a removable cap at the tip so that you can pour out the water in an appropriate place.

And while some umbrellas come with cloth covers to be slipped over them when wet but not in use, you then end up with a soggy fabric cover that’ll need to be washed once you get home, and repeated washings can damage its moisture absorbency. On the other hand, since Daiso’s case is made of plastic, you can simply wipe off the interior surfaces and it’ll be ready to go again.

Really, the only drawback we could see is that the case didn’t completely cover an extra-large 70-centimeter (27.6-inch) long umbrella that we included in our testing, but even then, it provided a long area length of protection.

Daiso’s Telescopic Umbrella Cover even has a chain so that you can clip it to your bag for easier carrying, and with sudden showers being something that can happen even after the “rainy season” is done, we might have one of these with us all summer long.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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