Japanese Convenience-Store Food Guide
How Seven-Eleven, FamilyMart, and Lawson differ, what onigiri and bento cost, when shelves refill, and which services matter for daily life.
Japanese convenience stores are food infrastructure, not only snack shops. Seven-Eleven, FamilyMart, and Lawson dominate the market, and their onigiri, bento, hot snacks, sweets, ATMs, copy machines, toilets, courier counters, and utility-bill payments become part of weekly life.
Three chains and their strengths
Seven-Eleven has about 21,000 stores and the strongest food-development reputation. Its Seven Premium line covers onigiri, desserts, frozen meals, and daily goods. The rice texture and nori packaging on onigiri are consistently strong, and Seven Bank ATMs handle many overseas Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, and JCB cards.
FamilyMart has about 16,000 stores and is strongest for hot snacks and sweets. Famichiki is around ¥220, spicy chicken around ¥210, and the Famima sweets line regularly produces cake and cream desserts. Some Muji goods also appear in FamilyMart stores.
Lawson has about 14,500 stores and leans into health and differentiation. Natural Lawson focuses on healthier foods, Lawson Store 100 mixes convenience-store and ¥100-shop formats, Uchi Cafe sweets are well known, and Karaage-kun is around ¥240.
Source: Japan Franchise Association: Convenience-store statistics, Seven-Eleven products, FamilyMart products, Lawson recommendations.
Food price ranges
Onigiri prices rose with the 2025 rice-price environment. Standard items are usually around ¥150 to ¥300, while premium salmon, ikura, special seaweed, or SPAM-style items can reach ¥350 to ¥500. Examples include salmon onigiri around ¥178 and premium rice lines around ¥218 or more.
Bento usually sits around ¥497 to ¥800 for ordinary meals and ¥900 to ¥1,200 for larger or premium boxes. Nori bento around ¥497, pork or hamburger bento around ¥599 to ¥900, and small discount bento around ¥398 to ¥450 appear depending on chain and store.
Hot-case items are quick and predictable: Famichiki around ¥220, Karaage-kun 5 pieces around ¥240, Seven-Eleven fried chicken sticks around ¥138, and hot dogs around ¥138 to ¥180.
Best times to visit
Morning from 6:00 to 9:00 is good for fresh onigiri, sandwiches, and bread. Seven-Eleven’s baked-bread items and new breakfast stock often appear during this window.
Lunch from 11:00 to 14:00 brings full bento, salad, and chilled-noodle shelves. Lines can take 5 to 10 minutes near offices, schools, and stations. FamilyMart’s prepared-meal lines perform well here.
Night shelves change around 21:00, when new desserts and onigiri can arrive. Around 22:00 to 23:00, some stores add 30 percent or half-price stickers to items near the sell-by limit. Late-night ATM use is easiest at Seven Bank ATMs, with typical international-card fees around ¥110 to ¥220.
Source: Seven Bank: International cards.
Services beyond food
Utility bills, taxes, pension slips, concert tickets, courier payments, and many barcode bills can be paid at the register. Some public bills require cash even when the store accepts QR payments for ordinary shopping.
Multi-copy machines print black-and-white pages for around ¥10, color pages around ¥50, and ID photos around ¥200 to ¥500. Some municipalities allow resident record and seal-certificate copies through the machine when the user has a My Number Card.
Courier service depends on chain and region. Yamato is common at Seven-Eleven and FamilyMart, while some Lawson locations handle other services. A 60-size parcel inside Kanto can be roughly ¥800 to ¥1,200.
Common mistakes
Convenience-store onigiri packaging has a 1, 2, 3 opening order. Pulling it apart directly breaks the nori and rice shape.
Cold bento should be heated at the register. Say 温めてください before payment if the clerk does not ask. Chilled onigiri usually should not be microwaved because the rice texture worsens.
Discount stickers mean the food must be sold that day. Eating it soon is fine, but saving discount onigiri or sandwiches for the next day is a bad idea.
Toilet use is normally for customers. Buying a ¥150 drink or coffee after using the restroom is the quiet custom in many urban stores.
Useful terms
- おにぎり: rice ball
- お弁当: boxed meal
- 温めてください: please heat this
- マルチコピー機: multi-copy machine
- 揚げ物: hot fried snacks