and Dentsu introduced a corporate mascot named Open-Chan (Open 小將), an extraterrestrial dog who wears a rainbow-shaped crown from a fictional planet known as Planet Open to be a "cartoon spokesperson" for the store chain in Taiwan. Open-Chan quickly grew in popularity among Taiwanese children soon after its initial debut. After Open-Chan's subsequent rise to prominence in Taiwan, the character was even introduced in Japan. The unique convenience store culture formed by President Chain Store (7-Eleven in Taiwan) has become a part of Taiwanese culture. Thailand The first Thai 7-Eleven opened in 1989 on Patpong Road in Bangkok. The chain consists of both company-owned (45%) and franchised shops (55%). CP ALL Public Company Limited is the 7-Eleven owner and franchisor in Thailand. , there were 11,983 stores in Thailand, employing 170,000. In 2018, 7-Eleven generated 335,532 million baht in income for CP. 7-Eleven holds a 70% market share in the convenience store category, opposed by some 7,000 other convenience stores (e.g., FamilyMart) and 400,000 "mom and pop" shops. Thailand has the second largest number of 7-Eleven stores after Japan. In an effort to reduce plastic pollution the parent company of 7-Eleven stores in Thailand, CP All Public Company, announced their intent in November 2018 to reduce and eventually end the use of single-use plastic bags. , 7-Eleven—along with 42 other Thai retailers—will stop giving single-use plastic bags to customers. United Arab Emirates Seven & I Holdings announced in June 2014 that they had agreed a contract with Seven Emirates Investment LLC to open the first Middle Eastern 7-Eleven in Dubai, United Arab Emirates during the summer of 2015. The company also said that they had plans to open about 100 stores in the country by the end of 2017. The first store was opened in October 2015. The country has 13 stores as of January 2018. Vietnam The first 7-Eleven store in Vietnam opened in 2017, making Vietnam the 17th country to host the world's largest convenience store chain. Seven System Vietnam (SSV) is the Master Franchisee of the 7-Eleven convenience store system in Vietnam, based in Ho Chi Minh City. Europe Norway 7-Eleven has been established in Norway since 13 September 1986, when the first store opened in Oslo. In 2004 Reitan Convenience, a branch of the Norwegian Reitan Group bought the rights to use the 7-Eleven brand in Norway, Sweden and Denmark and since then has massively grown