How to Buy Food and Drinks at Japanese Convenience Stores | Popular Items from Each Chain, Hot Snacks, Coffee and Smoothies, Heating, Eat-In Tax, Alcohol (7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Lawson)

Overview

Japanese convenience stores (konbini) sell rice balls (onigiri), sandwiches, bento boxes, bread, sweets, ice cream, cup noodles, and drinks. This article explains how to choose and buy food and drinks at the stores of the three major chains (7-Eleven, FamilyMart, and Lawson), based on each chain's official information (checked on October 11, 2026).

All three chains introduce their own popular or recommended items on pages for travelers (see the table below).
If you ask the staff at the register, they will heat bento boxes and similar items in the store's microwave. Some items cannot be heated in the store.
“Hot snacks” such as fried chicken are displayed in a case next to the register. There are items you order from the staff at the register and items you take yourself.
If you eat what you bought in the store's eat-in area, the tax rate is higher than when you take it out.

The front of a 7-Eleven store seen from the street. Below green, orange, and red stripes and a “7 ELEVEN” sign is a banner for a “Hokkaido Fair.” The faces of people on the banner and on the posters on the door are hidden with mosaic. On the glass wall, there is an ATM sign on the left and signs for “tobacco” and “alcohol” on the right.

The front of a FamilyMart store seen from the street. Below green and blue stripes and a “FamilyMart” sign is a sign for Fami-Chiki's 20th anniversary. Fami-Chiki posters are on the windows, and a banner flag for a morning discount stands on the left. The faces on the posters and of passersby are hidden with mosaic.

The front of a Lawson store seen from the street at night. A blue stripe and a “LAWSON” sign are lit up. There are steps and a handrail in front of the entrance, and a sign for “alcohol and tobacco” stands on the left. The faces of people inside the store are hidden with mosaic.

The photos above, taken by the site operator, show the fronts of stores of the three chains. The photos of sections in this article are an example taken in a Lawson store. Items, prices, and sections differ by store, region, and season, and may change.

What to buy

Items Each Chain Introduces

The pages for travelers of the three chains introduce the following items (checked on October 11, 2026).

Convenience store	Items introduced on the page for travelers
7-Eleven	As “popular items”: tuna mayonnaise rice balls, egg sandwiches, smoothies, and Nanachiki
FamilyMart	Fami-Chiki, FAMIMA CAFÉ coffee and frappés, egg sandwiches, milk, soufflé pudding, seasoned soft-boiled eggs, and rice balls made with Spam
Lawson	KARAAGE-KUN, MACHI café coffee and café lattes, and Uchi Café sweets (roll cakes and dorayaki)

Nanachiki, Fami-Chiki, and KARAAGE-KUN are all hot snacks of fried chicken. How to buy them is explained below in “Buying Hot Snacks.”

Examples of Store Sections

The photos of sections below were taken in a Lawson store. Stores of the other two chains have similar kinds of sections.

Refrigerated shelves at Lawson. Triangular rice balls and hand-rolled sushi are on the upper tiers, and rice bowls, bento boxes, and noodles fill many lower tiers, each with a price tag.

Rice balls, bento boxes, and noodles: A rice ball is rice with a filling inside, wrapped in nori (dried seaweed). Bento boxes, noodles, and ready-made side dishes are displayed on refrigerated shelves. If you want them heated, tell the staff when you pay.

Refrigerated shelves at Lawson. Salads and side dishes in cups, salads in bags, and tofu are lined up on many tiers with price tags.

Salads and ready-made side dishes: Salads and side dishes in cups and bags are displayed on refrigerated shelves.

Bread shelves at Lawson. Bagged sweet buns, savory buns, and roll cakes are lined up on many tiers, and a tag on the shelf describes a promotion that gives coffee coupons.

Refrigerated sweets shelves at Lawson. Bagged cakes, cream puffs, and sweets in cups are lined up, with a tag for Christmas cake orders above them. The faces of people in the photo on the tag are hidden with mosaic.

Bread and sweets: Bread is on room-temperature shelves, and sweets such as cakes and cream puffs are on refrigerated shelves.

A freezer case for ice cream at Lawson. Under the glass lids, ice cream bars and bagged ice cream are sorted by type in wire baskets.

Ice cream: It is displayed in a freezer case.

Cup noodle shelves at Lawson. Cup noodles such as Cup Noodle and bowl-shaped noodles are lined up on many tiers with price tags.

Snack shelves at Lawson. Bagged nuts, kaki no tane (rice cracker snacks), senbei, and chips hang on hooks on the upper level and sit on the shelves below.

Cup noodles and snacks: There are shelves for cup noodles, and shelves for chips and other packaged snacks, senbei (rice crackers), and nuts.

Step by step

Buying Hot Snacks

Warm foods such as fried chicken, frankfurters, and yakitori (grilled chicken skewers) are displayed in a case next to the register. FamilyMart says that you order Fami-Chiki from the staff at the register.
Lawson's video on how to buy fried foods explains three types separately: items in bags, items not in bags, and items customers cannot take by themselves. Depending on the item, you either take it yourself or ask the staff for it.
The selection of hot snacks differs from store to store (according to 7-Eleven).

Item	Convenience store	Official description
Nanachiki	7-Eleven	Thick fried chicken seasoned with 11 kinds of spices
Fami-Chiki	FamilyMart	Boneless fried chicken launched in 2006
KARAAGE-KUN	Lawson	Karaage (Japanese fried chicken) launched in 1986, with 5 pieces per pack. There are several flavors. Not sold at NATURAL LAWSON stores

Buying Coffee

You buy FamilyMart's FAMIMA CAFÉ coffee with the following steps (according to FamilyMart).

For hot coffee, order at the register and receive a cup. For iced coffee, take an iced coffee cup from the freezer case and pay at the register.
For both hot and iced coffee, place the cup in the coffee machine and press the touch panel.

At 7-Eleven's SEVEN CAFÉ, customers also operate the machine themselves. Some machines are operated with a touch panel and others with buttons.
For Lawson's MACHI café, there are stores where you order at the register, receive a cup from the staff, and place it in the machine yourself, and stores where the staff make the drink at the counter (MACHI café+).
At FAMIMA CAFÉ, you cannot have coffee poured into a container you bring yourself.

Buying Smoothies (7-Eleven)

Take a smoothie cup from the freezer case and pay at the register.
After paying, scan the barcode on the cup with the machine.
Peel off the film on the cup and place the cup in the machine. It is ready about 70 seconds after you place it.

Some stores do not sell smoothies.

Checkout and store

Heating, Chopsticks, and Trash

Heating: At the register, you may be asked whether you want bento boxes and similar items heated. Even if you are not asked, the staff will heat them in the store's microwave if you ask. At 7-Eleven stores, the items heated in the store are those whose package shows a guideline heating time for a 1,500W microwave. As a rule, items that show only heating times for home microwaves are not heated in the store.
Chopsticks, spoons, and forks: If you need them, ask when you pay.
Trash: FamilyMart asks customers to put only trash from items bought at that store into the store's trash bins, and to take other trash with them. Some stores do not have trash bins (according to 7-Eleven).

Eating in the Store

Only some stores have an eat-in area (seats for eating inside the store).
The tax rate on food and drinks (except alcohol) that you take out is 8%. If you buy items at the store and eat them in the eat-in area, it becomes 10% (according to the National Tax Agency and 7-Eleven).
If you will eat in the eat-in area, tell the staff when you pay. Some stores have signs such as “Please let us know if you will use the eat-in area.”

Good to know

Buying Alcohol

Refrigerated doors at Lawson. Canned beer, chuhai, and highballs and bottled alcohol are lined up, with a “これはお酒です” (This is alcohol) sign above them.

In Japan, the law prohibits people under 20 from drinking alcohol.
When you buy alcohol, press the age confirmation button on the screen at the register.
You may be asked to show a document that confirms your age. For age confirmation, 7-Eleven accepts only original documents with a photo of your face, and a passport is one of them. Copies and photos of documents are not accepted.
The tax rate on alcohol is 10% even when you take it out.

Allergen Labels

Allergen labels on packaged foods are written in Japanese. What Japanese law requires on food packages is labeling in Japanese; it does not require labeling in other languages (according to the Consumer Affairs Agency).
Foods sold without a container or package, such as the fried foods next to the register, are not covered by the legal allergen labeling (according to the Consumer Affairs Agency).
Lawson asks customers to check an item's allergen information before buying.

Tax-Free Shopping and Medicines

At all three chains, only some stores offer tax-free purchases. Japan's tax-free system changes on November 1, 2026. Tax-free procedures are explained in Tax-Free Shopping in Japan | The Refund Method from November 2026 and What to Do When You Leave Japan.
Only some stores sell medicines. On 7-Eleven's store search, you can find stores that sell medicines by selecting “薬” (medicines).

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