I know that there's been rumblings of 7/11 in the USA spinning up more food options with an eye to how things are done by its parent in Japan, but it really can't come soon enough. Get a move on! 7/11 in Japan with its onigiri is amazing and I'm desperate for these style of convenience stores with their options to make their way over here to USA and Canada.

My wife is opening a drive-thru restaurant which serves these (among other Asian foods like musubi and lumpia and such). Pricing as of now looks like $3 a pop, which is comparable to the pricing at the local Mitsuwa. Convenience store onigiri in Japan are of course generally a lot cheaper (especially with the current exchange rate).

https://www.tsunagujapan.com/16-top-selling-items-at-lawson-...

These are what I miss most about my years living in Japan. I made them for my kids a few weeks ago and they adored them. You can buy plastic-lined seaweed sheets to fold the rice into, so opening them is almost the same experience as onigiri from a Japanese conbini. For a filling, I just mixed together some tuna, salt, and mayo.

I love onigiri, but over here in Europe they are still pretty niche, and by niche I mean expensive.

It's basically a sandwhich, right? Only that it costs 5-10x more.

Once we made these onigiris for a potluck my kid's school hosted and they went away very quickly. So we have stopped exploring other menus and just have kept making them every potluck since. And it goes away quickly every time.

One thing I noticed since is that it can be a great vegan option: You can make one from rice salt and dried kelp/seaweed plus some pickles (umeboshi etc.)

Having never had one, are onigiri filled with anything? I think of eating something that's basically entirely rice and wonder where's the protein? It seems to just be all simple carbs, which feels like a setup for an insulin spike and sugar crash.

I've never understood why these things don't cause food poisoning due to bacillus cereus. There are all sorts of theories about vinegar being used in cooking or whatnot but I've never seen any rigorous study of the microbiome of an onigiri.

Fond memories of grabbing a few of these in the little shop within Shimokitazawa station, people watching with my wife as we wolfed them down, then heading off to the train with satisfied stomaches to explore Tokyo.

Are they hard to make at home? I haven't found great/reliable spots to get these in SF. (Where are the great SF spots for these??)

Love these things. I still remember the first time I saw some at a stand at a festival here in Germany. Me and my friend each bought one, then bought a few more because they were so freaking good. Still have pictures of our first bite. It was shortly after that I started seeing them everywhere in supermarkets, and I've been buying them regularly ever since (despite the crazy price).

The Canadian 7-11s have a larger mostly rice one available now for $5 CAD each.

Our family loves onigiri. It's one of those foods you can customize to whatever you feel like that day.

We love this Nori Komi furikake, you can put it on anything, including buttery popcorn!

https://www.amazon.com/Jfc-International-Seasoning-Furikake-...

For me an onigiri with soggy and chewy seaweed is disgusting, but one of those where the seaweed stays dry and crispy until unwrapping is really tasty.

My favourite is wasabi tuna in a tube shape.

had the best home made onigari in japan ever. they don't mess around over there