Japan’s Cult Souvenir Is a Conbini Sock, and You Have to Visit 47 Prefectures to Collect Them

Conbini socks have become a popular souvenir with tourists. Left: the standard Line Socks. Right: the Tokyo prefecture design. (Photos: Family Mart)

Instant ramen kits, sake, Japanese whisky, daruma dolls and maneki-neko are the souvenirs most travellers expect to bring home from Japan. But a pair of striped “conbini socks” has become one of the country’s most coveted buys. Tourists now criss-cross Japan to track them down.

The socks come from FamilyMart’s Convenience Wear line, launched in 2021. The calf-length pair, with two bands of blue and green lifted from the convenience chain’s logo, is an unlikely cult object. Yet more than 28 million pairs have reportedly been sold.

Now the chain is turning an everyday staple into a collectable. FamilyMart marked its 45th anniversary on 1 September 2026 by expanding the range to 47 pairs, one for every prefecture. Each is a local version of the standard Line Socks and costs ¥600. The catch is that each design is sold only in stores within its own prefecture, so to own a particular pair, you have to go there. The original Line Socks remain on sale nationwide.

The designs come from Hiromichi Ochiai, creative director of Convenience Wear and founder…

Original source: https://www.timesnownews.com/lifestyle