- Life & Culture
Convenience Stores in Japan and Their Uses
Whether you are living in the mountains of Nagano or a metropolis like Tokyo, chances are you are within some distance of a Japanese convenience store. Convenience stores are as their name implies and have been in Japan for at least 50 years, with the first 7-Eleven open in Toyosu, Tokyo in May 1974.
A common part of everyday life in Japan, convenience stores serve the local community by selling a range of essentials, tasty food, and providing a number of other services you may not be aware of.
Check out our comprehensive guide for foreign residents and travellers, to get the most out of your local Japanese convenience store.
What is a konbini?
The word konbini, is short for “konbiniensu sutoru“, simply meaning “convenience store”.
Japanese convenience stores are very similar to convenience stores throughout the world, though they may offer some products or services that you may not find in the US or Europe. For instance, many konbini offer fresh, ready-to-eat meals, including sushi, onigiri (rice balls) and baked goods. Some even have counters for customers to sit and eat their meal, which is uncommon in convenience stores in the US.
Many konbini also offer printing, banking and mail services, similar to the cultural role that post offices fulfil in European countries. However, the ability to complete multiple tasks, under a single roof, is one of the reasons that konbini are so integral to the Japanese way of life.
What can you do at a konbini?
Although most customers visit konbini to buy helpful everyday products, there are many other things you can use a Japanese convenience store for. Here is Interac’s list of the top 5 things you can do at a Japanese Konbini.
1. Enjoy affordable food.
The most popular products that can be purchased from a konbini are certainly the wide variety of foods that are available. From traditional, handmade foods like onigiri and sushi rolls, to novelty foods like the viral cream sando (literally, a sandwich filled with sweet, whipped cream), and fresh baked goods like melonpan, you’re sure to find something to satisfy your appetite at a Japanese convenience store.
Hot food is available as well, making convenience stores a common place for office workers or students to pick up a quick, but filling meal. Fried chicken and cup noodles are popular choices, and there are microwaves and hot water on-site to help you to prepare meals to eat in-store.
Furthermore, if there is a particular item that is selling well, convenience stores will compete in price and quality to win the customer’s satisfaction. So, fried chicken soon becomes fried chicken with cheese, discounted!
Not all the food you can buy in a convenience store is standardized. Although indeed there are regular items you can buy across the country and many chains, there are also specialized items that are unique to those areas. For instance, champon, which you can find in Nagasaki, may not be able to found outside that prefecture.
Be sure to check out the unique selection of food and drink available at your local konbini, which can include popular items such as soft-serve ice cream, hot coffee, iced coffee, and Chūhai (canned alcoholic beverages).
2. You can mail your luggage
Do you have a ski-trip planned, but don’t want to take lots of bulky equipment on the train? Or, are you planning a trip to the coast, but don’t want to carry your surfboard on the Tokyo Chuo-line?
Have no fear—your local convenience store can also double up as a concierge, and can send your luggage to another convenience store at a specified destination.
By using this service, you can quickly check in your luggage a day or two before you leave, and pick it up at your destination on arrival.
3. Visit 24 hours a day, 365 days a year (mostly)
Although this is somewhat of a grand sweeping statement, by and large, most convenience stores are genuinely convenient and are open day and night, throughout the year.
Missing the last train is never fun, but the walk home can be made bearable by walking to the various convenience stores and eating your Niku-man on the go.
4. Buy tickets
Although times in Japan are changing, it can still be quite challenging to get a credit card in Japan.
Using the Kikai or ‘the machine’ as it is ominously called, you can order music tickets and be sure to be at the front of the next Babymetal concert. Or, if you need tickets to fly back home, these can also be printed by the machine and then paid for in cash at the register.
5. Pay bills
If you are new to living in Japan, it can often be overwhelming to find an easy way to pay your bills (especially if you come from a cashless society). In Japan, this is no problem as utilities, house taxes, phone bills, and even Amazon orders can be paid for at a convenience store.
Just be sure to keep your receipts. It should also be noted Japan has started pushing for a more cashless society. However, you’ll find cash is still the dominant payment method, especially in rural areas.
Why are Japanese convenience stores so popular?
Japanese convenience stores are popular with Japanese people, due to the large range of services and products that can be purchased from them. They are also extremely common, even in rural areas, meaning that they fulfil a vital role in the local community, by making affordable food, banking, and postal services available to all!
However, many Japanese may be surprised to find out how popular Japanese convenience stores are with foreigners. Tourists and international workers are frequently surprised by the quality, and quantity of items that are available in a typical konbini, and even items that would seem mundane to a native Japanese can be novel and exciting to foreigners.
Snacks with cute, recognisable mascots, such as Milky’s Peko-chan, or items featuring Sanrio characters are often purchased by foreigners in convenience stores, as well as treats and Japanese snacks that they may never have tried before (such as the cream sando that we mentioned earlier in this article). As it turns out, Japanese convenience store culture doesn’t just appeal to the Japanese!
Japanese convenience stores on Social Media
Social media may have also increased the popularity of Japanese convenience stores, as well as convenience stores in other countries, such as South Korea. Some travel influencers create content where they share their convenience store meals, as well as ‘konbini hacks’, where they show you how to get satisfying meals, for a great price!
For instance, the YouTube creator Japan Eat regularly documents their meals as an American living in Japan. As well as reviewing restaurant meals, he has many videos sharing the items he buys from Japanese convenience stores such as Lawson and 7-Eleven.
Search YouTube and TikTok, and you’re sure to find plenty of videos of people sharing their convenience store treats, affordable konbini meals, or even taking part in fun challenges, such as only selecting pink or green food items! Social media has added an extra layer of fun and enjoyment to what could otherwise seem a very mundane part of life in Japan.
What’s special about Japanese convenience store culture?
Convenience stores in Japan can be hubs of community, particularly in quiet, rural areas.
They play a big part in everyday Japanese life, serving as a place to buy a range of food and sort out essentials like paying bills, buying tickets, photocopying, or sending your luggage when you travel. Japanese konbini are also known for their polite customer service, orderliness, and cleanliness.
There’s even a 2016 novel called Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, which captures the atmosphere of the typical convenience store in Japan. They’re an integral part of Japan, and even if you’re only on a short trip, we highly recommend that you visit one!
Helpful Japanese Phrases to use in the Konbini
Here are a handful of useful phrases that you may like to use on your first trip to the konbini.
- Good morning = Ohayō (おはよう)
- Good afternoon = Kon’nichiwa (こんにちは)
- Good evening = Konbanwa (こんばんは)
- May I buy this? = Kore o katte mo īdesu ka? (これを買ってもいいですか？)
- May I buy these? = Korera o katte mo īdesu ka? (これらを買ってもいいですか)
- How much does this cost? = Kore ni wa ikura kakarimasu ka? (これにはいくらかかりますか?)
- May I heat this up? = Kore o atatamete mo īdesu ka? (これを温めてもいいですか？)
- Could you heat this up for me? = Kore o atatamete moraemasu ka? (これを温めてもらえますか？)
- Thank you = Arigatō (ありがとう)
Popular Convenience Store Chains in Japan
There are a number of convenience store chains in Japan, as well as the smaller, family-owned konbini you are likely to see in rural areas. However, most convenience stores are franchises of a larger company. These are the top 5 most common convenience stores that you’re likely to see in Japan.
1. 7-Eleven
A franchise that will be familiar to most Americans, is the 7-Eleven convenience store chain. Founded in the United States in 1927, the first 7-Eleven store in Japan opened 47 years later in 1974, and they have remained popular within the country ever since.
7-Eleven is currently the largest convenience store chain in Japan, with 21,215 stores at the time of writing (30% of the total number of 7-Eleven stores in the world)!
2. FamilyMart
Family is the second-largest convenience store chain in Japan, which was founded in 1973, in Saitama Prefecture. FamilyMart is not only popular is Japan, however. They also have stores throughout Asia, including Taiwan, China, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
Of FamilyMart’s 24,000+ global stores, 17,409 of these are in Japan. Unlike 7-Eleven, FamilyMart actually expanded their operations into the United States in 2005, rather than the other way round. However, these US stores were opened under the name Famima!!
3. Lawson
Lawson is another convenience store franchise which was founded in the United States, but now operates mainly in Japan. In February 2017, they became a subsidiary of the famous Mitsubishi Corporation, who are best-known for their automobiles.
As of June 2024, there are 14,608 Lawson convenience stores in Japan.
4. Ministop
Ministop is one of the smaller convenience store chains in Japan. Opening in May 1980, there are only 2,045 stores throughout the country, as of 2023.
However, if you have a Ministop close to your home in Japan, you may be very lucky, as Minimarts often have on-site kitchens, preparing fresh food including sandwiches, bento boxes, and more. This make Ministop one of the best chains to visit for great quality convenience store food.
5. Daily Yamazaki
Daily Yamazaki convenience stores, like Minimarts, also have a food-based niche. Owned by the Yamazaki Baking Company, these convenience stores boast the best offering of baked goods, including both Japanese and Western pastries.
Opened in 1977, with a reported 1,349 locations throughout Japan, Daily Yamazaki is the store to visit for cheap, but delicious fresh bread, baked goods, and standard convenience store staples like chilled drinks or fried chicken.
Interested in living and working in Japan?
If it’s been your dream to visit Japan, have you ever considered living and working in this amazing country as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT)?
We help to connect foreign language teachers with schools in Japan, and support them as they undertake this exciting opportunity, and explore the wonderful Japanese culture.
Check out our available ALT positions here, or visit the Interac blog for more interesting articles about living and working in Japan.
About the Author
Brian McDonough is a consultant at Interac, Japan’s largest provider of ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers). Originally from the US, Brian has lived in Japan for over 25 years, giving him a unique perspective on the cultural differences and challenges people face when moving to Japan. He has first-hand experience of working in Japan as an American.