Japan basics guide
Convenience stores in Japan: your travel infrastructure
Last checked: July 2026
TL;DR
- The konbini is where you solve problems, not just buy snacks: cash, printing, shipping a suitcase, event tickets, a clean toilet.
- Seven Bank ATMs are the best place to get cash with a foreign card — every major brand, 12 languages on screen, up to ¥100,000 per withdrawal.
- Free konbini Wi-Fi is mostly gone. 7-Eleven ended its service in 2022 and FamilyMart dropped its own service; Lawson is the exception.
- Not every store is open 24 hours anymore — most still are, but the share is falling, especially outside city centers.
The three chains
| Chain | Stores | What it’s best for |
|---|---|---|
| 7-Eleven | ≈ 22,000 | Seven Bank ATMs — the most reliable machines for a foreign card. Multi-copy machines, plus an English app for ticket printing. |
| FamilyMart | ≈ 16,000 | E-net ATMs take foreign cards around the clock. Famiport terminal for tickets and shipping. |
| Lawson | ≈ 14,000 | The only one of the three that still runs its own free Wi-Fi. Loppi terminal for tickets. |
Store counts are rounded — different sources count franchises slightly differently. For most purposes the three are interchangeable; the differences that matter to a traveler are the ATM and the Wi-Fi.
Cash: the konbini ATM is your friend
Japan still runs on cash in enough places that you’ll need some. The konbini ATM is the most dependable way to get it — more dependable than a bank branch, which keeps office hours.
- 1
🏧Find a Seven Bank ATM
Inside almost every 7-Eleven. They run around the clock, so this works at 3 a.m. too.
- 2
🌐Insert your card and pick a language
Insert a foreign card and the menu offers 12 languages, including English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese.
- 3
💴Withdraw up to ¥100,000
That is the per-transaction limit (¥30,000 for magnetic-stripe-only cards).
- 4
🧾Take the receipt
Fees depend on your card brand and your own bank, so keep it to check the charge later.
Seven Bank accepts Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, American Express, JCB, Discover and Diners Club issued outside Japan.
- FamilyMart has E-net ATMs, which take foreign Visa, Mastercard, JCB, and UnionPay cards 24 hours a day. E-net itself warns that a card with the right logo still doesn’t always work.
- Lawson Bank ATMs accept foreign Visa, Mastercard, JCB, and UnionPay cards, but only at some machines — treat it as your third choice.
- Fees vary by brand and by your issuing bank, and the ATM screen shows the fee before you confirm. Your own bank’s foreign transaction fee is usually the bigger cost.
Paying inside the store
All three chains take cash, transit IC cards (Suica, ICOCA and the rest), credit cards including contactless, and the main Japanese QR wallets. For visitors, the useful part: Alipay and WeChat Pay work at all three chains, so you can pay straight from the app you already use.
Self-checkout has spread quickly and is now normal. The screens have an English option; if the machine refuses your payment method, the staffed register next to it will usually take it.
Food, and the question you will be asked
Rice balls, sandwiches, bento boxes, hot food at the counter, and the coffee machine — all better than the words “convenience store food” suggest. Staff will heat a bento for you if you ask.
If the store has seating, you may be asked whether you’re eating in. This is not small talk: takeout food is taxed at 8%, eating in at 10%. Answer honestly — the price changes with your answer.
The services travelers actually use
- Shipping luggage. Konbini counters accept takkyubin (door-to-door courier) parcels, so you can send a suitcase onward without going back to your hotel. See our luggage delivery guide for how it works.
- Tickets. The in-store terminals (Loppi at Lawson, Famiport at FamilyMart, the multi-copy machine at 7-Eleven) sell tickets for theme parks, concerts, and events — Tokyo Disney Resort date-specific passports among them. The menus are largely in Japanese, so give yourself extra time or ask staff; 7-Eleven also offers an English app that lets you set up the job on your phone.
- Printing and copying — boarding passes, forms, photos — from a USB stick or your phone.
- Restrooms and a trash can. Both are genuinely scarce on Japanese streets, and a konbini has both. The bins are for things you bought there; take other trash back to your hotel.
The Wi-Fi reality check
A lot of travel advice still says “every konbini has free Wi-Fi.” That stopped being true: 7-Eleven shut down Seven Spot in March 2022, and FamilyMart ended its own service. Lawson still runs free Wi-Fi (60 minutes per session, up to five sessions a day, one-time email registration).
In other words, don’t plan your connectivity around konbini Wi-Fi. Get an eSIM before you fly — see our SIM and eSIM guide.
Can you shop tax-free at a konbini?
Some stores are licensed for tax-free sales, but not all of them, and the threshold is the same as everywhere else: ¥5,000 before tax in one store on one day, with your passport. That’s a lot of rice balls, so in practice it applies when you’re buying gifts in bulk.
From November 1, 2026, tax-free shopping switches to a refund at the airport rather than a discount at the register — the change applies to konbini purchases too. Details in our tax-free shopping guide.
One myth worth dropping: the 24-hour konbini
Since the industry started allowing franchisees to shorten hours, the share of 24-hour stores has been falling. In central Tokyo or Osaka you’ll still find one open at any hour; in a quiet residential area or a small town, check the sign before you count on a 2 a.m. meal.
Sources
Facts above were checked in July 2026 against primary sources including Seven Bank’s FAQ on overseas cards and its ATM language support, E-net (FamilyMart ATMs), Lawson Bank, 7-Eleven on its multi-copy machines, and the Japan Franchise Association on the eat-in tax rate.
Store counts are rounded and services vary by location; ATM fees depend on your card issuer. This page contains no affiliate links; links go to official or primary sources.