I've been on two trips to Japan - 2014 and 2023. We enjoyed eating a lot of onigiri on both trips. During the latter trip I noticed that the ¥ price hadn't changed much but the amount of filling (various proteins) had gone down considerably, which makes sense from a business perspective.
We've tried making them at home a couple of times but haven't perfected it yet. Reading this is motivating me to give it another shot soon.
You can find onigiri at independent shops not only convenience stores, with good price and better fillings/quantity. Convenience stores seem cheap compared with America but everything they sell is expensive locally
There are also onigiri adjacent foods worth exploring like tenmusu. I love this tiny place in Tsu (Mie prefecture capital) that serves 6 of them with soup for about $3, a full meal offered with dine-in, even though it’s now Michelin recommended. It's probably 1/3 the price of convenience store onigiri per unit cost and it's freshly made to order.
Oh don't get me started. In Korea, the size of the samgakgimbap has increased in some cases, and the price DECREASED in some cases... but the filling, ugh....!!!! Not only has the amount of filling decreased, but the quality is going down. Some of the tuna mayo ones have basically no mayo in them anymore, the tuna quality has also gone down. If I wanted rice and seaweed I'd buy rice and seaweed...!!!! And this isn't just CU/711/etc, it's everywhere! </rant>
We've tried making them at home a couple of times but haven't perfected it yet. Reading this is motivating me to give it another shot soon.