Guide · Akihabara

Convenience Stores and Shops in Japan: How to Pay and What Staff Are Asking You — Explained by a Japanese Teacher in Tokyo

Put your items and your money on the small tray at the register rather than into the staff member's hands, answer the bag question (plastic bags carry a charge nationwide since 2020), and take your change and receipt with a arigatou gozaimasu. In shops you generally do not call out to staff the way you would in a restaurant — you approach them, or wait to be approached.

The convenience store — konbini — is where you will have more Japanese interactions than anywhere else on your trip. It is also where the same four sentences get said to you every single time, which makes it the easiest place in Japan to feel competent by day two.

Why is there a little tray at the register?

The tray, called a calton, is where money goes in both directions. You put your notes and coins on it, the staff member picks them up, and change is placed back on it or handed to you with two hands. It exists because it is faster, avoids dropped coins, and removes the small awkwardness of hand-to-hand contact between strangers.

It is not a rule with a penalty. Putting cash directly into a hand will be accepted and nothing bad happens. But the tray is the standard flow, and using it makes the transaction smooth instead of a two-second negotiation.

Card and IC card payment are widespread — there is usually a reader facing you and you tap it yourself. If you are paying by IC card, say the card name (Suica de) or just tap when prompted.

What are they saying to me at the register?

Usually four things, in the same order every time: a greeting, a question about a bag, a question about heating your food, and the total. You can get through all of them with hai (yes), daijōbu desu (no thank you), and pointing.

Irasshaimase is the one that startles people, because it is shouted enthusiastically the moment you walk in and it sounds like a question. It is not. Nobody expects a reply, and staff will call it out even if they are facing the other way.

Do I have to pay for a bag?

Yes if you want a plastic bag — a nationwide charge on plastic shopping bags came into effect in July 2020, so shops charge a small fee per bag. The amount varies by shop. Most people carry a folding tote, and refusing a bag with daijōbu desu is completely normal, not rude.

If you buy hot food and cold drinks together, staff will often separate them without being asked. If you want them separated, or want your bento kept flat, gesturing is understood.

How do I get help in a shop?

Walk up to a staff member rather than calling across the shop. Open with sumimasen, then point, then use as much Japanese or English as you have. Shop staff are not permitted to ignore you and will usually find a colleague or a translation app if the conversation stalls.

A few pieces of shop-floor context that visitors do not expect:

• Nobody will hassle you. Browsing for twenty minutes without buying is completely normal and staff will leave you alone. "Just looking" — miteru dake desu — closes any approach politely.
• Do not open packaging. If a product is sealed and there is no sample, it is not opened before purchase.
• Queue at the register, even if it is a single person, and even if a second register looks free. If staff open a second lane they will call you over.
• Handing things over. Passing a card, cash or an item with both hands is a small courtesy that registers, especially with older staff.
• Tax-free counters are usually separate, need your passport, and often have a minimum spend. Ask before you pay at a normal register, because it usually cannot be reversed afterwards.
• Fitting rooms. You take your shoes off before stepping in, and many shops provide a face cover to pull over your head so makeup does not mark the clothes.

What else do konbini do?

More than you expect: ATMs that take foreign cards, ticket machines, printing and copying, parcel drop-off and pickup, bill payment, free toilets in many branches, and one of the few reliable rubbish bins you will find in public.

That last one matters more than it sounds — see why Japan has no bins. Konbini bins are for things bought at that shop. Carrying a hotel's worth of rubbish to a convenience store bin is the move that annoys staff, and some branches have moved their bins behind the counter because of it.

Eating in the shop's parking area or standing outside the door is generally discouraged. Some branches have a small eat-in counter, and those are exactly for that.

Frequently asked questions

Should I tip shop staff? No. See why there is no tipping in Japan. A clear arigatou gozaimasu is the appropriate and appreciated version.

Can I use a foreign credit card? Usually in convenience stores and chains, often in restaurants and shops in central Tokyo, and less reliably in small owner-run places, older shops and some ticket machines. Carry some cash.

Is it OK to ask staff for directions? Yes, and convenience store staff are used to it. Showing a map on your phone works better than a place name, since pronunciation of Japanese addresses is hard in both directions.

Why did the staff run to the door with my bag? In some shops, especially department stores, staff carry your purchase to the door or to the top of the escalator and hand it over with a bow. Accept it, say thank you, and do not try to take the bag early — it is a service, not a struggle.

Do I need to bag my own groceries? In supermarkets, yes — staff scan and take payment, and you move to a side counter to pack. In convenience stores, staff usually pack for you.

Do your first konbini run with a teacher

The register script is short enough to learn in one go, and impossible to hear the first time. On the Tokyo First Day Tour: Japanese Manners & Survival Class we go into a real convenience store on your first or second morning in Japan, listen to the four questions, and you answer them yourself — then buy something, use the tray, and walk out having done it.

The rest of day one is mapped here: Japanese etiquette: a complete guide for first-time visitors.

About the author. I am Yuuki, a Japanese teacher in Tokyo and an Akihabara tour guide — an italki Top 1% teacher, 5.0★ across 358 reviews, 2,112 lessons with 443 students. The convenience store is the first classroom I take every guest to, because it is the one they will use twice a day.

Book a 30-minute trial lesson →

Sources: Japan Franchise Association, Convenience Store Statistics (コンビニエンスストア統計データ); Japan National Tourism Organization, How to Get the Most Out of Konbini; Japan National Tourism Organization, Japanese Manners Do's and Don'ts.