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Japanese convenience store sign loses a letter at night for heartwarming, animal-friendly reason

Casey Baseel May 28, 2019
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Lawson branch purposely makes its sign harder to read for the benefit of some special baby visitors.

People in Japan take a lot of pride in their work, and that’s not just true for esteemed artists and high-flying executives. Service industry workers also display a consistently strong work ethic, which extends to keeping their stores clean and inviting-looking.

So at first glance, this snapshot taken by Japanese Twitter user @unya41447845 of a Lawson branch is surprising. As one of the biggest convenience store chains in Japan, Lawson takes its brand image very seriously, but this location, in the Dogo Onsen area of Matsuyama in Ehime Prefecture, looks like it’s been too lazy to replace the bulb in the “L” section of its “Lawson” sign…or at least it looks that way until you get a little closer and see that the lacking illumination is on purpose, because there’s a nest full of baby swallows sitting on the lower left part of the L!

道後温泉のローソン、Lだけ照明消してる訳だが、その理由が何とツバメの巣が出来たから。と言うちょっと良い話。#道後温泉　 #ローソンナイス pic.twitter.com/KFwNZmh5tw

— unya (@unya41447845) May 25, 2019

There’re at least five fuzzy siblings in the family, and the store staff doesn’t want to remove the nest until the newborns are big enough to leave it. So to help them get the sleep they need to grow up big and strong, the Lawson staff has decided to turn off just the L portion of the sign for the time being.

▼ @unya41447845 went back to visit again in the daytime.

バズっても宣伝すること無いから、昼の様子見てきました。Lのサインは昼見ても普通ですよね。全員無事巣立って貰いたいです。#道後温泉　 #ツバメのほっとステーションローソン pic.twitter.com/23io5TRRTe

— unya (@unya41447845) May 26, 2019

The kind gesture touched the hearts of other Twitter users, who reacted with:

“That settles it – I’m shopping at this Lawson.”
“I just noticed the babies’ mother is standing on top of the sign’s W [in the nighttime photo].”
“I hope there’ll be a nest every year now.”
“You don’t even have to bathe in Dogo Onsen’s hot spring to feel warm and happy as long as you see this.”
“It’s not that they turned off the “L” in “Lawson.” It’s that the “OVE” in “LOVE” is invisible.”

We were already big Lawson fans thanks to their beautiful space sky gelatin desserts and delicious Final Fantasy-flavored fried snacks, but now we’ve got one more reason to love them, and another addition to our growing list of convenience store staff heroes.

Source: Twitter/@unya41447845 via Jin
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Follow Casey on Twitter, where he wishes Lawson would bring back its steamed chashu buns.