Lawson convenience stores sell a mega katsu sando, and there’s a hack to get it cheap in Japan

This beast puts convenience store egg sandwiches to shame.

In a climate of rising costs and prices, it can be hard to find a good deal in Japan these days. So when Lawson announced it would be holding a “Morisugi Challenge“, which loosely translates as “Overfill Challenge“, we immediately headed out to our local branch to check it out.

▼ The “Overfill Challenge” upsizes select items by 50 percent at no extra cost.

The challenge began on 26 January, running over four weeks with different items introduced weekly. On 3 February, a new batch of products got the overfill treatment, including yakisoba fried noodles, coffee, and the thick-cut pork loin cutlet sandwich.

With our eyes firmly set on the pork sandwich, or “Atsugiri Rosu Katsu Sando” as it’s known in Japanese, we headed over to the “Machikado Kitchen” section, where bento boxed meals and other prepared foods made in Lawson stores’ kitchens are sold.

This is where you’ll find the mega sandwich, and because freshly made Machikado Kitchen items are discounted towards the end of the day, you can get even more value on the deal if you’re lucky.

The regular-sized katsu sando, which consists of two sandwiches, usually retails for 495 yen (US$3.16), which works out to be roughly 248 yen per sandwich. During this campaign though, Lawson is adding another sandwich for free, so the price drops to 165 yen per sandwich, but with the extra discount that price drops even further, to 115 yen per sandwich.

You have to be lucky to get this extra-special price as it’s not uncommon for the sandwich to sell out earlier in the day without any discount. Even at the regular price though, you won’t be disappointed as this sandwich is huge, with the cutlet being thick and juicy, and the cabbage and sauce adding just the right amount of contrast without overpowering the meat.

Like many things in Japan, scoring a discount on freshly made items at the ends of the day is a skill that gets fine-tuned with practice. In general though, Lawson stores tend to discount select items between 3-5 p.m. and again at 7-9 p.m., so that’s the yardstick for getting even better deals at the chain, and it’s a good guideline for other chains too.

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