In Japan, convenience stores are celebrated. Clean and bright, they are stocked with fresh and affordable lunchboxes, steamed buns and stews in the winter. The celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain once called them “the one vice” he couldn’t give up.

在日本，便利店备受推崇。这些洁净明亮的店铺里供应着新鲜且价格合理的午餐便当、包子，冬天里还有各种炖菜。名厨安瑟尼·波登称其为自己无法戒除的“唯一恶习”。

For many residents, the more than 55,000 cheerful, jingle-filled stores, known as konbini, are an indispensable part of daily life. Millions flock to the stores daily to pick up food, send packages and pay bills.

对于许多日本民众来说，逾5.5万家让人愉悦、叮当声响个不停的便利店是日常生活中不可或缺的一部分。每天有数百万人来到便利店买吃的、寄快递和支付各种账单。

Japan’s largest konbini chain, 7-Eleven, is also its most famous. It is understandable that a rival company wants in on the action.

日本最大的连锁店7-Eleven也是日本最著名的连锁店。因此，竞争对手对它有兴趣也就不足为奇了。

This week, Seven & i Holdings, the Japanese company that operates 7-Eleven, said it had received an unsolicited takeover proposal from Alimentation Couche-Tard, a convenience store giant in Canada.

本周，经营该便利店的日本公司Seven & i Holdings表示，它收到了加拿大便利店巨头Alimentation Couche-Tard的收购要约。

The status of 7-Eleven stores as a cornerstone of Japanese society also means Japan probably will not be willing to part with them, despite increasing pressure on the nation’s corporations to demonstrate openness to foreign-led acquisitions.

7-Eleven作为日本社会基石的地位使得日本可能不愿意放弃它们，尽管日本企业面临越来越大的压力，要求它们对外资主导的收购表现出开放的态度。

7-Eleven is “one of the best brick-and-mortar retail businesses in the world,” said Hiroaki Watanabe, an independent retail analyst. Selling 7-Eleven to Couche-Tard would be, for Japan, “equivalent to Toyota becoming a foreign company,” he said.

独立零售业分析师渡边宏明(Hiroaki Watanabe)说，7-Eleven是“世界上最好的实体零售企业之一”。他表示，把7-Eleven卖给Couche-Tard对日本来说，“相当于丰田变成了一家外国公司。”

In fact, 7-Eleven started out an American convenience store chain, operated by Southland Corporation, in Dallas in 1927. It opened its first store in Japan in 1974, featuring popular American items like hamburgers. It was an instant success in Japan and within two years had expanded to 100 stores.

其实，7-Eleven原本是一家美国连锁便利店，由萨奥斯兰德公司于1927年在达拉斯创办。1974年，7-Eleven在日本开设第一家店，经营汉堡等美国流行食品。它在日本迅速取得成功，两年内就扩展到100家门店。

In 1991, a Japanese supermarket operator, Ito-Yokado, and 7-Eleven Japan acquired 70 percent of Southland’s shares. In 2005, 7-Eleven became wholly Japanese-owned through a holding company, Seven & i.

1991年，日本超市运营商伊藤洋华堂与7-Eleven日本公司收购了萨奥斯兰德70%的股份。2005年，7-Eleven通过控股公司Seven & i彻底成为一家日本企业。

Today, Seven & i has more than 21,000 7-Eleven stores in Japan and operates in 20 countries and territories. In the United States, Seven & i has been exploring ways to replicate the much-coveted Japanese convenience store experience. One possibility: Introduce ramen noodles.

如今，Seven & i在日本拥有超过2.1万家7-Eleven门店，并在20个国家和地区开展业务。在美国，Seven & i一直在探索如何复制备受青睐的日本便利店体验的方法。一种可能性是：引进拉面。

In contrast to Japanese konbini stores, North American convenience stores are often seen as places for packaged snacks, drinks and, in many cases, gasoline. Convenience-store hot foods typically evoke images of a solitary hot dog spinning for hours on end in an induction oven.

与日本的便利店相比，北美的便利店通常被视为出售包装零食、饮料，以及在很多情况下提供汽油的地方。说到便利店的热食，人们往往想到的是一根孤零零在炉子里旋转了数小时的热狗肠。

Couche-Tard, based in Quebec, operates many of these convenience stores in the United States under its Circle K brand.

总部设在魁北克的Couche-Tard在美国以Circle K品牌运营着许多这样的便利店。

The company runs more than 16,000 stores and gas stations in North America and Europe. Like Seven & i, the Canadian retailer has sought further growth abroad. In 2021, it tried to acquire the French grocery store operator Carrefour — an effort that regulators eventually shot down.

该公司在北美和欧洲经营着超过1.6万家便利店和加油站。与Seven & i一样，这家加拿大零售商也在寻求赴海外增长。2021年，该公司试图收购法国杂货店运营商家乐福，但最终遭监管机构否决。

Japan has long been a part of Couche-Tard’s global ambitions. Should Couche-Tard’s acquisition succeed, it would not only represent the largest foreign-led acquisition of a Japanese company but also create one of the world’s largest retail groups.

长期以来，日本一直是Couche-Tard全球雄心的一部分。如果收购成功，它不仅将成为最大的外资收购日本公司的案例，还将缔造全球最大的零售集团之一。

After news of Couche-Tard’s preliminary takeover bid, Seven & i announced that it had established an independent special committee to review the offer.

在Couche-Tard提出初步收购要约的消息传出后，Seven & i宣布已成立一个独立的特别委员会对要约进行审查

Analysts point to significant obstacles that would probably make the buyout of Seven & i a long shot.

分析人士指出，收购Seven & i可能会遇到一些重大障碍。

For one, Seven & i is a conglomerate with businesses beyond convenience stores, including banking and carrier services. The holding company’s reach opens the acquisition to more intense scrutiny from the Japanese government.

首先，Seven & i是一家企业集团，业务范围不仅限于便利店，还包括银行和运营商服务。这家控股公司的影响力使此次收购面临日本政府更严格的审查。

There are also big differences in the way Couche-Tard and Seven & i operate convenience stores.

Couche-Tard和Seven & i在便利店的经营方式上也有很大不同。

Japanese konbini operators are known for their swift development of new products — such as themed goods available only during the fleeting cherry-blossom season. A typical convenience store in Japan offers about 3,000 products, 70 percent of which are replaced annually, according to Mr. Watanabe, the analyst.

日本的便利店运营商以快速开发新品而闻名，比如只有在短暂的樱花季才有的主题商品。据分析师渡边说，日本一家便利店一般提供大约3000种商品，每年有70%的产品被更换。

A large portion of Seven & i’s operating profit comes from its Japanese convenience stores, and Couche-Tard would need to present a compelling proposal showing how it could improve that core business, he said.

他说，Seven & i的很大一部分营业利润来自其在日本的便利店，因此Couche-Tard需要拿出一个令人信服的方案，说明它将如何改善这一核心业务。

Mr. Watanabe once made a two-week drive across the United States, studying convenience stores along the way — and was unimpressed. Any takeover proposal for 7-Eleven would be challenging because Japanese convenience stores are “completely different and unique,” he said.

渡边曾用两周时间驱车横穿美国，并沿途考察便利店，但他的印象并不好。他表示，任何收购7-Eleven的提案都将面临挑战，因为日本的便利店“完全不同且独特”。

The first 7-Eleven store in Japan opened in 1974 in a quiet bayside neighborhood in eastern Tokyo. On Friday morning, it was bustling with office workers, students and parents with young children in tow.

日本第一家7-Eleven便利店于1974年在东京东部一个安静的海滨社区开业。周五早上，这里挤满了上班族、学生和带着幼儿的家长。

Sakura Kobayashi, 23, who works in the neighborhood, stopped in to buy a salad and an onigiri rice ball — a specialty in Japanese convenience stores. The foods at 7-Eleven have a taste that feels “familiar” to her and her colleagues, she said.

23岁的小林樱(Sakura Kobayashi)就在附近工作，她顺道在店里买了一份沙拉和一个饭团——这是日本便利店的特色。她说，这里的食物对她和她的同事们来说有一种“熟悉”的味道。

Outside a 7-Eleven in central Tokyo, Yuta Matsumura, a 26-year-old office worker, ate a cream-filled pancake dessert he had just bought. He said he typically stopped in a 7-Eleven at least three times a week, sometimes to buy lunch items like beef rice bowls.

在东京市中心一家7-Eleven便利店外，26岁的上班族松村雄太(Yuta Matsumura)正在吃他刚买的奶油松饼甜点。他说，他通常每周至少要来7-Eleven三次，有时是为了买牛肉盖饭之类的午餐。

But it is really the sweets that lure Mr. Matsumura in. “They’re not too sweet, like we Japanese like,” he said. “7-Eleven desserts are the best.”

但真的吸引松村的是甜点。他说：“它们不会过甜，正是我们日本人喜欢的口味。7-Eleven的甜点是最好的。”