便利店兄弟：來得剛剛好的相遇

The Convenience Store by the Sea #2

by Sonoko Machida, 町田苑香, 王蘊潔 (Translator)

「柔情便利店」的門司港小金村門市，是業績特別出色的一間分店。除了因為貫徹「溫柔待客，情同一家」的服務精神、店內商品獨具地方特色，更不能忽視眾多為了「費洛蒙店長」志波三彥而前來朝聖的粉絲們所展現的消費力。

現在連志波的妹妹樹惠琉也搬來和哥哥一起住，她的美貌讓店裡多了不少狂熱男客人。不過，雖然營業額增加是好事，員工們的心情卻很微妙。畢竟應付志波兄妹的粉絲，已經夠讓人筋疲力盡，更別說面對態度差勁的客人，還得盡量保持店員該有的親切。

話雖如此，店裡的氣氛卻逐漸出現變化。樹惠琉毫不掩飾地對店員之一的廣瀨太郎表現好感，每次見到太郎，她就像小狗看到主人一樣飛奔過來，幾乎可以看到她甩著根本不存在的尾巴。難道，屬於柔情便利店的「戀愛季」就要到來了嗎──？

✦和阿嬤一起考察戀愛✦
「喜歡」究竟是什麼呢？
如果不好好守護，很快就會結束。
但即使結束，也依然希望自己的心意受到重視。

✦廣瀨太郎的憂鬱✦
很多事情，如果早點知道，就可以早點得到幸福。
但若不懂繞遠路的焦急，就無法珍惜自己擁有的。
說不定，自己比自己想得更閃閃發亮。

✦女王失勢✦
「正確」真的很重要嗎？
沒有人不會犯錯，更重要的是在犯錯了之後的事。
後悔的，就好好後悔，好好面對。每個人都是這樣長大的。

所謂柔情，是那些彆扭的日常中，來得正好的相遇。
一個生活中理所當然的地方，也能在快要被世界淹沒時，
成為你心頭最牢固的救贖。

Genres: Fiction, Japanese Literature, Japan, Cozy, Contemporary, Slice Of Life, Asian Literature

240 pages, Paperback

First published December 23, 2021

About the author

Sonoko Machida (町田 そのこ) is a Japanese writer. Her story Cameroon no Aoi Sakana received the R-18 Literary Award in 2016. Her novel 52 Hertz no Kujiratachi won the 2021 Japan Booksellers' Award Grand Prize and sold over 400,000 copies in Japan.

Associated Names:
* Sonoko Machida (English)
* 町田 そのこ (Japanese)
* มาจิดะ โซโนะโกะ (Thai)

Reviews

[Sadie E · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book's SO soft. Not in a boring way. In a “I might start crying in a car park because somebody was kind to me once” kind of way.

The atmosphere absolutely carried me away: salty sea air, warm snacks, fluorescent convenience store lights at 2 am, instant coffee, Sleep-deprived strangers silently projecting their emotional damage onto the beverage aisle. CINEMA to me. It all feels intimate in this painfully human way, where every interaction matters because everyone's carrying around some small private ache they don’t quite know what to do with. And the book manages to be comforting without pretending life is easy. There’s loneliness, disappointment, missed connections, uncertainty about the future, but there’s also this quiet insistence that small moments still matter anyway. Maybe a shared meal matters. Maybe someone remembering your usual order matters.

What really got me is how small and contained the story feels. No dramatic twists or world-ending stakes. Just people trying to survive exhaustion, regret, grief, and the horrifying experience of having feelings. Every interaction felt meaningful and every tiny kindness hit me like a truck. Someone handing another person food? DEVASTATING. Somebody remembering a detail about someone else? I need to lie down.

Also the convenience store itself became my favourite character. Not to be dramatic, but I would die for her. The store becomes this emotional sanctuary where broken and exhausted people keep washing up like driftwood and finding tiny reasons to keep going. I wanted to move in immediately. Give me my tiny rice balls and my emotional devastation, please.

Thank you to the publisher for a copy in exchange for a review

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes a little Tenderness is all you need.

I enjoyed this book a lot and think it was a successful sequel. Through a series of short stories centered around a convenience store with a handsome manager, we get a book that manages to capture the human experience in a heartwarming way. I would describe reading this as chicken soup for the soul. It's comforting and warm, but doesn't lie about the difficulties that come with being human.

Each chapter is its own little vignette that somehow ends up back at the convenience store, and through prose, gentle lessons, and setting, we get a story that feels nostalgic and like a slice-of-life anime in the best way. Each story delivered on some soft, feel-good vibes, but my favorite story by far was On Love and Grandmothers.

While I did not enjoy the stories in this book as much as the first one, mostly because two of the three stories centered around high schoolers and the last story felt just a bit too dramatic, it was still enjoyable overall and delivered on that soul-balming feeling that made me love the first book. I will absolutely be reading the third installment when it comes out later this year.

[Sarah Hany · Rating 4 out of 5]

الرواية 4/5الترجمة 5/5

الرواية حلوة اوي تحسسك إنك عايز تعيش في مدينتهم ووسط الشخصية
حسيته اقرب لقلبي ومشاكل الشخصيات في الجزء الاول كانت مخلياني عندي فضول
والصراحة بحب الروايات اللي بتخليني احس إني أحسن بالالجزء ده كان حلو بس بالنسبالي حبيت الجزء الاول اكتر
اجواء بتاعتها اللطيفة

اعتقد الجزء ده موضوعه عن الحب والصداقة ، والجزء الاول مشاكله كانت عن الأحلام والشغف

بس الرواية قفلت على ظهور شخصية جديدة وقصة لسه ما اتحكتش بس خلتني متحمسة جداااا للجزء اللي بعده لان القصة شكلها هتبقى مشوقة جدااا وكمان لسه قصة البنت اللي بتظهر في الأول مااتحكتش 😍😍

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very sweet 🍬

[traceyxon · Rating 3 out of 5]

좋긴한데 1권 만큼은 아니다.
역시나 청량감 넘치는 프롤로그부터 스토리까지 재밌다.

[Lysandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, Shino thought, a really incredible love can come to you at any age, and can make you happy no matter how old you are.
I wonder if I'll find a healing love like that someday.

Exquisite sequel, let it be too short! Especially after that last chapter — I cannot wait for the third instalment!

Beautiful prose and translation, and the delicacy and sensitivity with which all feelings, grievances and development are represented is excellently expressed.

Genuinely one of my comfort series.

[Akansha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ending the month with a five star read 💜

This one has some of the best quote I have read in a while. I also liked all the stories. Compared to the first one this is comparatively shorter but we have more coming in this series. And I can't wait to continue the series.

I am not really interested in the woman who keeps visiting the store in the prologue but we will also get more of what happened with Tsugi and I am here for it.

[Amalie Elisabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Carina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very easy read. A tv drama in form of a book, highly entertaining!

[Ana Barajas Gómez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mira que el primero me encantó

[Manon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️ J'avais mis 4 étoiles au premier et il faut avouer que celui là était un chouia en dessous. C'est peut-être lié à la traduction, j'ai largement préféré la version française. En fait, je n'ai pas trop accroché à la première histoire mais j'ai bien aimé les deux autres. J'ai aussi apprécié de retrouver certains personnages du premier tome. Ça se lit bien, on passe un bon moment et je lirai sûrement le prochain tome.

[Joe Parsons · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very easy read. Love the introduction of the hot store managers equally hot sister. Those are some genes!

[Alyce Caswell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes you just need a bit of Tenderness...and by that I mean the convenience store by the sea, where the manager and his siblings could pass for movie stars. It also happens to be an unassuming place of healing and reflection. A grandmother and granddaughter grow closer, a store employee discovers himself, and a school girl finds herself receiving the same treatment she once gave others.

I was hanging out for this sequel for months. Happily, I can report that it did not disappoint in the slightest. Machida delves so deeply into her characters and their psyches that you feel like you have formed an intimate acquaintance with each and every one of them. I was particularly moved by Mizuki's tale. What incredible character growth...and her new friendship actually made me teary. Now can November please hurry up and arrive? I want the next book's English translation...NOW.

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been anticipating this book since I read the first one, to finally have it in my hands brought me utter joy. I loved this book so much, each chapter had me engrossed and I love how each character shows growth within or with those involved in the Tenderness store. I am so excited for the next book to come out with english translation and can’t wait to see how the plot thickens after that epilogue.

[Bona VIN · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sudden realization after finishing this book: I think I finally understand what this series is really trying to do.

When I read Convenience Store by the Sea, I absolutely loved it. It wasn't just about a convenience store, it was about the people who passed through it. Every small encounter, every conversation, somehow built a quiet sense of community. It felt comforting, like no matter how lost someone was, Tenderness would always have a place for them.

This sequel feels a little different. The story still revolves around Shiba brother, the ever-gentle store manager (still the cutest guy, by the way), Jewel, his sister, Tsugi, and everyone at Tenderness. It follows three different live, each carrying their own kind of loneliness.

The first story follows Shino, a middle school girl who discovers her boyfriend has been cheating on her. What broke my heart wasn't even the cheating; it was how she couldn't talk about it with her own family. Somehow, she found comfort in her father's grandmother instead, and through her, another quiet little community built on tenderness.

One of my favorite moments in the entire book was Mitsue's advice to Shino:

"It is a good thing to love someone. It is a very good thing. No matter how old you are, it is good to love someone. And when that happens, it is good to love not just the other person, but the person you yourself become through your love. Care for the other, and care for yourself equally well. Find love like that—a love that makes you try to be worthy of the one you hold dear. That's a blessing indeed."

That honestly stayed with me. It doesn't describe love as sacrifice or obsession. It describes love as something that should make you kinder to yourself too. And I think that's beautiful.

The second story is about Taro Hirose, one of the employees at Tenderness. I actually like Taro as a character, but I have to admit... this chapter wasn't really my favorite. It leans more into adult relationships, and watching him deal with his ex just felt exhausting. The relationship was messy, unhealthy, and honestly a little toxic. I found myself getting annoyed more than emotional. Sorry, not sorry. I do love Jewel though, and I'm curious to see where her story goes.

Then came the last chapter.

Mizuki Murai completely shattered me.

She's just a girl trying to survive a family that's already falling apart. Her father has an affair, even has another child, and wants a divorce. Reading that made me realize how terrifying it must be to grow up in a home that's held together only by people pretending it's still a home.

I felt so sorry for Mizuki.

As if her family wasn't enough, she slowly loses the people around her too. Her classmates distance themselves. Friends from middle school and high school quietly disappear from her life when she needs them the most. That loneliness felt painfully real. Sometimes people don't leave because you've done something wrong; they leave because your pain becomes inconvenient for them.

Then Kurihara appears.

Someone Mizuki had barely noticed before becomes the one person willing to stay.

I loved their encounter at Tenderness.

Kurihara says something that honestly hit me harder than I expected :

"Disappointed is a word people use when they only think they know somebody. People who think they know someone but never really understand what's inside them, people who only see what they assume, those are the ones who use words like that. 'He was such a disappointment,' they'll say. But people who truly see someone, people who really know them... they don't."

That line lingered in my mind long after I closed the book.

It reminded me that being misunderstood can hurt more than being judged. Because disappointment often says more about expectations than about the person themselves.

After experiencing all the kindness at Tenderness, Mizuki finally finds the strength to let go. She speaks honestly with her mother. She tells her it's okay to release her father instead of holding onto a marriage that's already broken. It wasn't forgiveness. It wasn't acceptance. It was choosing peace over pretending.

That ending hurt. But it also felt incredibly freeing.

Chapter three honestly made me feel sick, not because it was badly written, but because it felt painfully real. Watching how shameless some people can be, how easily one person's selfishness can destroy an entire family... it scared me.

No offense to men, but reading about fathers like that made me wonder how many women are still trying to hold broken families together simply because they're afraid of what happens if they let go. I hope one day more women choose themselves too. I hope they find the courage to leave when staying only hurts everyone.

At the end of the day, that's what I think this series does best. It doesn't tell grand stories. It quietly reminds us that healing often begins with someone simply seeing us. A convenience store shouldn't feel like home. And yet, somehow, Tenderness always does. I still think Convenience Store by the Sea remains my favorite in the series, but this one gave me a different kind of ache, one that stayed with me long after I turned the last page. And yes... I'll definitely be picking up the next book when it comes out this year.

[SummeroftheSeasons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't love this one as much as the first, but it was still undeniably sweet and certainly leaned more on the romantic themes. Can't go wrong with translated healing literature. Always looking forward to the next book in this series!

[malaika ‎‍✮ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 maybe 3 ⭐️
A lot less boring than the first book and I actually really liked taros story and the last chapter
The first chapter was so boring though I dont even remember what happened in it

It was also easier to keep up w the characters this time
We are never getting Shibas lore 😓

[swatreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genuinely surprised by how good this book is! I first thought it was just another healing/cozy read with similar concept since I haven’t yet read the first book in the series, but the quotes in this are so relatable, the stories so heartwarming and not even remotely boring.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

nice to return to a familiar cast of characters and get introductions to new characters as well as those from the last book…just didn’t enjoy quite as much as the first book!

[pola :) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very sweet and moving like the first part of the series! Can‘t wait for the next part :)

[Alessia Veltkamp · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️

[Maud van der Ven · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had such a lovely time! 🥺 there are some really important life lessons tucked away in the pages of this book and I love that one of the main driving plot points is how attractive the convenience store owner is. also 10/10 cover

[Nigel Hoffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heel leuk, meer van hetzelfde maar ik krijg er geen genoeg van. Boek had van mij twee keer zo lang mogen zijn. Ik kijk uit naar de komst van deel 3 in november.

[Courtney Slater · Rating 2 out of 5]

could be the reading slump, could be that it was a little bit too slow paced

[SDG Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 - too twee

[Anise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bis ich verstanden habe worum es in dem Buch geht, war ich schon fast fertig. Für mich leider sehr langweilig. Es kamen auch so viele Namen vor und jeder hatte 3 unterschiedliche Namen. Ich war einfach sehr verwirrt.

[(Wika!)_09 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muszę teraz iść kupić pierwszą część...

[Ghaidamo_ · Rating 3 out of 5]

هذا الجزء الثاني من كتاب
The convenient store by the sea
ويحمل نفس طابع الكتاب الاوّل …
يتكلم عن حياة أشخاص يعانون في حياتهم لأسباب مختلفة
وجه الشبه الوحيد هو أن ينتهي فيهم الأمر في متجر البقالة اللي يطل على البحر
وبطريقة ما تنحل المعاناة اللي يعانونها،

الكتاب فيه أشياء لطيفة مثل التكاتف المجتمعي وعن أكلات يابانية لذيذة وقراءة الكتاب سهلة ولطيفة جداً

[Shannon Mountford · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really for me but a nice enough read

[radhika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine a slow Sunday afternoon. You’re lying in bed, with nowhere to be and nothing demanding your attention. You’re just mindlessly scrolling through Instagram until you reach that strange corner of the internet filled with oddly comforting things — pressure washing videos, mukbangs, or those quiet konbini (Japanese for convenience store) videos where someone walks into a 7-Eleven, picks up a ramen bowl, an ice cup, and a coffee sachet, and sits down to enjoy the simplest little meal.

There’s something strangely intimate about watching people find comfort in ordinary moments. I’ve always wanted to experience the atmosphere of those Japanese convenience stores — the quiet kindness, the familiarity, the feeling that even the most mundane routines can hold a little bit of magic. This book brought that feeling back to me.

We return to Kyushu’s beloved 24/7 Tenderness Convenience Store in Mojikō — a place that feels less like a store and more like a small crossing point where strangers briefly become part of each other’s lives.

Meet Me at the Convenience Store by the Sea is a collection of interconnected stories that explore the lives of the staff and customers who pass through its doors. I haven’t read the prequel yet, but this book completely worked for me on its own. I’ve always struggled with short story collections because I often crave the depth of staying with one character for longer, but what made this one special was the way every story quietly reached for another, slowly weaving together a bigger picture.

The little details made the experience even more vivid. Those konbini videos I had seen before came back to me while reading — I could picture the interiors of Japanese homes, the streets, the small gestures, and the peaceful rhythm of everyday life that runs through this book.

Out of everyone, I felt myself drawn most towards Shima (Kurihara). Her story stayed with me the longest. There was something incredibly human about watching someone recognise their own mistakes, realise they’re receiving the same pain they once caused, and still choose growth over resentment. It made Mizuki’s character feel so much more layered and real.

And then there was Mitsu. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone whose presence could completely overwhelm me, but the way everyone spoke about Mitsu’s character made me want to capture that feeling somehow — which is why I ended up drawing her yesterday afternoon.

I picked this book up because I needed a little quiet. I needed the comfort and nostalgia of Japanese fiction amidst all the noise my mind was creating. I also wanted to step away from East of Eden for a while and return to something softer.

There is something uniquely comforting about reading a story set in Japan, written by a Japanese author; like being invited into a world that moves a little slower, where even a convenience store at the edge of the sea can become a place full of memories, kindness, and belonging.

If you want to read something cozy.. something that feels like walking on a crisp autumn evening, stopping to pet a stray cat, and ending your day with a warm coffee from a 7-Eleven — read this book.