General information about shopping in Japan

Store hours are generally 10 -11 to 19-21 depending on the shop. Some supermarkets open longer like 8:30 or 9 to 22 or 23. Department stores and many other stores are open almost everyday except for Jan.1 and a day or two days a year for facility inspection. (generally in Feb. or non-peak seasons) Convenience Stores are open 24/7 including Jan 1. Many discount shops are open on Jan 1 as well.

When you see “Tax-free Shop” sticker, if you have original passport (not photo copy of the passport page) with you and if you purchase more than 5,000 yen in each category (General items or Consumerable) in one shop on a same day, you can do tax-free shopping. If you don’t see the sticker, ask the shop first. About Tax-free Shopping by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Tourism: ｜消費税免税店サイト (mlit.go.jp)

The shops can be categorized:
1.Department stores
2.Discount shops
3.Shopping Malls
4.Supermarket
5.Convenience stores (Conbini)
6.Specialized Shops
7.Small shops owned by individuals

1.Department stores（デパート）

For best qulity products and gifts for special persons. Japanese people often buy presents in Department stores. They will beautifully wrap the gift. If you tell sales staff it’s a present, they will put ribbons or stickers. Nice thing about department stores are if they are tax-free shops (most of them are), you can combine purchases within the same Department store and if that add up to exceed tax-free minimum, you can have tax refunded. Usually, you will need to go to tax-free counter to do that. This might take extra time depending on how busy they are.

Some of the famous Department stores include: Mitsukoshi, Isetan, Takashimaya, Daimaru, Marui and etc.

2.Discount shops（ディスカウントショップ）

Shops such as Don Quijote (AKA Donki) : Yodobashi Camera, Bic Camera, LABI/Yamada Denki (Electronics), Akachan honpo (Baby and Children), Daiso, Seria, Can Do (100 yen shops) are discount shops and you can purchase at discount prices.

3.Shopping Malls（ショッピング・モール）
Shopping malls have many shops in one building, but they are independent shops. So if you want to do tax-free shopping, you need to spend minimum amount (5,000 yen for each categories) at each shops. Often in the suburbs, there are shopping malls with supermarket. (e.g. Aeon Mall–large Aeon shops including grocery, clothes, shoes, stationery, cosmetics, detergents also have some independent shops in the mall such as clothing shops, drug store, 100 yen shops book store and etc. If you are not sure which shops are tax-free shops, ask at information counter.)

4.Supermarket　（スーパー）

For groceries such as fruits, drinks, vegetables, bread, snacks, some prepared food (salad, fried food, bento box) are sold. Some big names are Aeon, Ito Yokado, Seiyu and OK. Recently, we also have mini supermarkets such as My Basket and Maruetsu Petit in the city center. There are fancier exclusive supermarkets like; Kinokuniya, Seijo Ishii and Meidi-Ya. The prices are higher but they have nice selections including their original private brand products.

5.Convenience Stores or “Conbini”（コンビニ）

3 major conbinis are Seven-eleven, Family Mart, and Lawson.　They are open 24/7. They have everything from food & drinks to stationery to cosmetics, detergents and etc. The prices are a littler higher than discount shops and supermarket. You can use ATM, copy machine, print documents, buy tickets, and send packages domestically by Takkyubin,

6.Specialized Shops （専門店）
There are variety of specialized shops such as:Uniqlo (Clothes), Muji, Loft, Hands, Nitori (Life related products); Matsumoto Kiyoshi, Sun Drug, Sugi, Tsuruha (Pharmacy); Kinokuniya, Maruzen, Junkudo (Books); Itoya, Kyukyodo (Stationery) We also have long established specialized shops such as confectionery Toraya or other sweets shops.

7.Small shops owned by individuals（個人商店）
Such as small sourvenir shops, record shops, greengrocers, meat shops, liquor shops, stationery shops, shoes shops flower shops and etc in town. They often have a certain days of the week closed(e.g. Wednesday). Some of those small shops may not accept credit cards (although after Covid, more and more shops accept credit cards. Look for stickers at the door/near cashier) nor are tax free shops. Please check before you make payments.

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