Project X: Challengers - Seven Eleven

by Tadashi Ikuta

At a time when the giant department stores and supermarkets dominated the Japanese retail industry, two businessmen, Toshifumi Suzuki and Hideo Shimizu, discovered a new type of small retail store flourishing in America -- the Seven Eleven. Called a "convenience store," it was a concept new to the Japanese. Intrigued by this new idea and convinced that it would suceed in Japan as well, the two men put together a project team of fifteen members, all virtual novices to the retail trade, to bring this venture to their land. Staking his entire livelihood, young storeowner Kenji Yamamoto volunteers to convert his family-owned liquor store into the first Seven Eleven in Japan. The hardship of negotiations, the oil shock, the struggle to cope with inadequate space -- all were met with resolve and innovation, culminating in what is now called the retail revolution!

Genres: Manga

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 11, 2006

Reviews

[Speedtribes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this description of the book on amazon -- "Filled with the minutiae of development... ...the authors present this landmark moment in Japanese business with the histrionics and gravitas common to action and adventure manga, and the result is an earnest yet baffling attempt to give moving, operatic scale to a turgid example of the often deadly dull historical comics genre." -- which left me with a burning desire to _find_ this manga and read it.

I loved it. So much. I'm a sucker for this type of story where disparate people join together against great odds to establish... _Something_. Where everyone works hard, doing ridiculous things and sacrificing for each other -- even without knowing the other person well.

This manga is full of that with a warm hearted simplicity that, absurdly, imbued me with this weird, shining sense of hope for the fate of mankind just from reading about a refrigerator with a back door and a package of cup noodles. This also has the benefit of being a 'true story'. This is clearly dramatized, yes. But the main information is factual, and somewhere, somehow, two Japanese guys trekked across the US and became an inspiration for their own section of the country. I think that's something.

[Neven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear writing, clear art, and an educational and endearing underdog story. Cute and interesting

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not nearly as interesting as the Cup Noodle instalment of this series.