Cult of Dragon Quest Lawson - a themed convenience store, Osaka

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Game on! We loved themed convenience stores so when he heard about a Dragon Quest themed Lawson in Osaka, we just knew we had to visit for ourselves.

A novel thing to do in Nipponbashi, the DragonQuest themed konbini will bring out your inner ‘otaku’ in Osaka – where geek chic meets gaming characters 24 hours a day.

From the unique Lawson Slime logo lock-up to what to the Square Enix merchandise inside, here is our ultimate guide to the themed Lawson Dragon Quest convenience store in Japan:

Themed Dragon Quest Lawson convenience store in Nipponbashi Osaka Japan

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Table of Contents

The cult of Lawson in Japan

There are around 55,000 convenience stores in Japan of which there are 14,000 Lawson stores, making Lawson the third biggest convenience store in Japan, after 7-Eleven (27,000 stores) and FamilyMart (16,000 stores).

Renowned for their egg sandwiches and fried chicken kara-age kun nuggets (which are clucking good value and tasty too), Lawson may not be the biggest konbini in Japan but it does have one of the best themed convenience stores in Japan – a Lawson x Dragon Quest themed shop / ‘konbini’!

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Where is the Dragon Quest Lawson themed store in Japan?

A bit like playing the game itself, you can find the Lawson Dragon Quest themed store in DenDen Town area of Nipponbashi in Osaka.

This neighbourhood is known for its electrical stores, camera shops and general otaku shops (think Super Potato, Manadrake and Animate). Nipponbashi is Osaka’s equivalent of Akihabara in Tokyo.

The Dragon Quest Lawson is also just a two minute walk from the interesting ‘TENGA shop’- a veritable temple of vacuum cup or showroom of self-love (find out more with our guide to TENGA products here).

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What is in ‘Store’ when you visit Dragon Quest Lawson

The first thing you notice when you first visit the themed Lawson is how the store-front has been taken over with all the online characters and dragons like Slime, Dracky, Weartiger and Erik from original Dragon Quest – very cool.

Even the Lawson main logo sign board hanging out front has Slime peeping out – the attention to detail of the theming is awesome.

Possibly the best bit of the whole Dragon Quest takeover was the door opening announcement takeover – usually when you leave or enter any Lawson in Japan, a speaker by the door welcomes you or bids you farewell when you enter or leave (in Japanese).

At the themed Lawson store in Osaka, the door announcement has changed to funny saying by the characters (we aren’t sure what as we only know basic Japanese) – we think this might be a first in Japan.

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Inside Osaka’s Dragon Quest Lawson

Above all of the fridges and normal convenience store goods, you’ll see all the smiling faces (well some are grimacing) of all your favourite (or not so favourite Dragon Quest characters).

Even the chillers and freezers are branded and covered in monsters – so they have more than one type of ‘Sprite’ (yes, that was a soft drink and gaming joke – you’re welcome!).

One Lawson freezer even has a huge Stone Golem on the side – the theming is so cool plus there are pixel patterns on the floor tiles.

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Lawson Dragon Quest Merchandise / Square Enix

As you’d expect, this special themed Japanese convenience store / konbini also has a whole section inside dedicated to Dragon Quest merchandise (most of it Slime focussed) and the games publisher, Square Enix.

In this Dragon Quest Lawson, you can buy Slime facemasks, blue Slime T-shirts and other diverting Dragon Quest branded goods. You can even get a bright blue Slime teapot!

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Dragon Quest background

One of the biggest selling and most popular role-playing games in Japan (JRPG), Dragon Quest is an online sensation and has even spawned manga comics, anime and novels (plus the odd themed Dragon Quest Lawson store now!)

Featuring colourful characters like magical dragons, cute music and sweeping storylines, Dragon Quest was first released in 1986 and now 11 games within the main series plus numerous spin-offs.

In the vast majority of Dragon Quest online games and series, players control a sprite / character that can explore villages, trade arms and other power-ups to defeat ogres and villains.

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Other things to know about this themed store

There also used to be a Lawson Dragon Quest themed store in Akihabara in Tokyo – but this looks to have been converted back to a normal Lawson store now (Booooo!) – so you’ll have to get on over to Osaka.