Starbucks, Ginza Six, Tokyo, Japan

Japan had remained closed to foreigners since the beginning of the pandemic, and I felt extremely fortunate to be able to travel on a business visa while international tourists were still locked out of the country.

My last visit to Japan was 3 years prior, as a tourist, visiting my wife, who was on a business trip, with our 6 month old son, turning our Thanksgiving holiday into one we’ll never forget. This felt like yesterday, honestly, as I walked the streets of Ginza looking for a hearty breakfast and a decent cup of coffee.

The city is so familiar to me, having traveling throughout it as a solo tourist, with my partner on a couples trip, with our family, with friends on a business trip, and so many other types of independent and group travel… I just loved Tokyo in so many ways, and this trip was no different, even if I was spending 70% of it inside a conference center promoting our business to the tourism industry.

With three of us manning the booth at the Japan Tourism Expo, and over 30 meetings lined up, there would be little time for lunch. Before we left for the conference center, I grabbed the “Club House Campagne Sandwich,” unsure how Starbucks Japan settled on using the word campagne, and only assuming it was a reference to the bread and not some sort of pate.

Meeting after meeting after meeting, the day flew by, and all of a sudden it was my time for lunch. I sat at a nearby table and unwrapped my club sandwich, eager to dive into what I expected to be a solid purchase.

Absolutely disgusting and near inedible, I was floored. Soggy bread laced with mayonnaise, egg that was schmeared to oblivion, the saddest piece of lettuce you’ve ever seen, rubbery turkey with no flavor, bacon that tasted years old… perhaps this club sandwich had been sitting on the shelf since the days before covid, because this was no fresh meal to be proud of. In fact, it was horrible… was this the worst meal I’ve ever had in Japan? It had to be! At least it was presented nicely?

I threw the sandwich out and made a b-line to Family Mart, a convenience store where I purchased a salmon plate and quickly gulfed down my meal.

The rest of the day I remained in shock from this scary occurrence, vowing to never have a club sandwich (or any food) from Starbucks in Japan. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice…

… fortunately, the rest of the meals were fantastic, and this remained yet solely a speed bump on my way through Tokyo.