Japan Konbini: The Convenience Store as Daily Infrastructure

Japan konbini is the small-format chain store that works as daily infrastructure for residents.¹²³ A new arrival who learns the register, the parcel counter, the multicopy machine, and the ATM can solve most routine admin without a separate trip to a bank, post office, or ticket agency.

Confirm current details with official sources

Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the official service pages of 7-Eleven Japan, FamilyMart, Lawson, Mini-Stop, and Daily Yamazaki.

Overview

This guide covers the five-chain network as residents actually use it: food for daily meals, barcode bill payment, parcel shipping and pickup, document printing and certificate issuance, cash withdrawals, and event tickets plus gift cards.¹²³ It applies to all residents regardless of visa status, with one exception stated where it matters: certificate printing needs a マイナンバーカード (mai nanbā kādo, "My Number Card") and a participating municipality.⁴

Who this guide serves

First-week arrivals use this guide to pay a first utility slip, print a form, or withdraw cash before a bank account exists. Long-term residents use the same counters on a weekly rhythm for bills, parcels, and copies.¹²³

The network at a glance

The five chains are 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Lawson, Mini-Stop, and Daily Yamazaki, each with its own service portal and national store footprint.¹²³⁵⁶ Most stores run long daily hours and many run 24 hours; Lawson describes 24-hour, seven-day operation and Ministop describes 24-hour, 365-day operation.³⁵

Seven Bank counts over 28,000 ATMs nationwide across 7-Eleven stores, airports, stations, and commercial sites (as of 2026-09-06; confirm current figures with Seven Bank).⁷ That scale is why a newly arrived resident is rarely far from cash, a copy machine, or a parcel counter.

The five chains and their footprint

Each chain publishes its full service list in one place: 7-Eleven for multicopy, payment, delivery, ATM, tickets, and prepaid; FamilyMart for multicopy, payment, ATM, tickets, parcels, and pickup; Lawson for banking, payment, post, Yu-Pack, Loppi tickets, and multicopy; Ministop for Loppi, multicopy, ATM, and payment; Daily Yamazaki for payment, parcels, stamps, printing, and prepaid.¹²³⁵⁶

How to read a konbini door

Parcel stickers tell you which carrier the counter accepts before you carry a box over. Stores showing Yamato Transport handle 宅急便 (takkyūbin, "door-to-door parcel delivery") at 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, and Daily Yamazaki, while Lawson handles ゆうパック (yū-pakku, "Japan Post parcel service") and states Yamato and Sagawa slips are out of scope.⁸⁹¹⁰

ATM marks tell you the operator: Seven Bank at 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, E-net, and Japan Post Bank machines at FamilyMart, Lawson Bank at Lawson, and Aeon Bank at Ministop.¹²³⁵ Terminal names tell you the kiosk flow: multicopy machine at 7-Eleven and FamilyMart, Loppi at Lawson and Ministop.¹²³⁵

Food: a full daily kitchen

Konbini food covers a full daily kitchen rather than emergency snacks. The daily-meal core is おにぎり (onigiri, "rice balls"), お弁当 (obentō, "boxed lunches"), sandwiches and bread, noodles and pasta, salads, chilled sides, and desserts.¹²³

Chain fresh lines add depth: reservation bento and Seven Premium at 7-Eleven, Famima and Famimaru ranges at FamilyMart, Machikado Chubo hot kitchen items at Lawson, and Daily Hot bakery items at Daily Yamazaki.¹²³⁶ Single-person households often treat this range as the evening-meal default.

Bento, onigiri, sandwiches, and fresh-prepared items

Bento, onigiri, sandwiches, sushi, salads, soups, and chilled prepared dishes arrive daily with date labeling. Staff heat bento and rice items on request, which makes the counter work as a canteen for residents without time to cook.²³

Build evening meals from bento plus chilled sides

A bento plus one chilled side or salad covers dinner at a predictable price without a supermarket trip. Check the label date when buying after evening restocking hours.²³

Hot foods, snacks, drinks, and alcohol

Hot foods near the register include fried chicken and croquettes, frankfurters, oden simmered items in winter, and 中華まん (chūka-man, "Chinese steamed buns").¹²³ Packaged shelves carry snacks, sweets, processed and frozen foods, ice cream, tea, coffee, soft drinks, milk, and alcohol such as beer, sake, shochu, and wine.²³

Alcohol and tobacco need an age-confirmation step at the register. The screen prompt or staff check applies even for a single can.²³

Paying bills and everyday payments

Barcode bill payment, or 収納代行 (shūnō daikō, "bill collection agency service"), is the register lane new residents use first.¹¹ Bring the slip, pay in cash, and keep the receipt.

Covered slips include electricity, gas, telephone, water, credit, mail-order, insurance, NHK reception fees, national pension premiums, and public taxes, with exact scope stated per chain.¹¹¹⁶ Online orders offer a konbini-payment option: check out online, pay at the register or kiosk, then collect or await delivery.¹²³

Which bills a konbini register takes

7-Eleven lists electricity, gas, telephone, water, credit, mail-order, and public tax bills.¹ FamilyMart lists the same base plus insurance, NHK fees, national pension premiums, and public taxes through paper or smartphone slips.¹¹

Daily Yamazaki lists national pension premiums, public taxes, electricity, water, gas, telephone, communications, insurance, online-shopping, and credit bills. The slip must name Daily Yamazaki, Yamazaki Daily Store, or New Yamazaki Daily Store to be accepted there.⁶

Some taxi fares can be paid where the issued slip carries a konbini barcode. This depends on the taxi company and is not a universal taxi-payment lane (limitation: no chain publishes a taxi-company list).¹¹¹

How the barcode payment works

Hand the 払込票 (harai-komi-hyō, "payment slip") with a printed barcode, or the designated smartphone barcode, to staff. The register displays the amount after the scan.¹¹⁶

Payment for these slips is cash-first. Daily Yamazaki states cash only for collection-agency slips, and Lawson states credit cards cannot be used for utility bills and specified Loppi or collection services.⁶¹²

Daily Yamazaki adds a handling fee on some slips separate from the billed amount (as of 2026-09-06; confirm current figures with Daily Yamazaki).⁶

Slip amount	Handling fee	As of	Notes
Under 10,000 yen	110 yen	2026-09-066	Tax included, separate from bill
10,000 to under 50,000 yen	220 yen	2026-09-066	Tax included, separate from bill
50,000 yen and above	550 yen	2026-09-066	Tax included, separate from bill

Keep the register receipt as proof. FamilyMart notes its app-based bill payment issues no paper receipt, so counter payment is the path when a receipt is needed for reimbursement or records.¹¹

Sending and receiving parcels

Every konbini is a parcel point, but each chain contracts with one carrier. Check the door sticker before carrying a parcel over, because a Yamato slip and a Yu-Pack slip are not interchangeable across chains.⁸¹⁰⁹

Shipping from the counter

7-Eleven, FamilyMart, and Daily Yamazaki act as Yamato Transport counters for standard takkyubin in prepaid and collect-on-delivery forms, plus golf, airport, round-trip, and multi-piece services.¹⁹⁶ Waybills are available in store, including smartphone-issued and home-printed label flows.⁸⁹

FamilyMart accepts parcels up to 160 size with three-side total within 160 cm and weight up to 25 kg (as of 2026-09-06; confirm current figures with FamilyMart and Yamato Transport).⁹ Larger parcels are refused at FamilyMart counters.

Cool (refrigerated and frozen) takkyubin and international takkyubin are not available from konbini or Yamato agencies.⁸⁹ A chilled or overseas parcel needs a Yamato sales office or another carrier counter.

Lawson accepts only Japan Post Yu-Pack paper slips: sender-paid C-label, collect-on-delivery, multi-piece, golf, ski, and airport forms.¹⁰ Yamato and Sagawa slips are out of scope at Lawson.

Lawson Yu-Pack limits are three-side total within 1.7 m and weight within 25 kg (as of 2026-09-06).¹⁰ Lawson discounts Yu-Pack by 120 yen per parcel for store carry-in, plus 60 yen same-address and 60 yen multi-piece discounts with stated exclusions (as of 2026-09-06).¹⁰

Daily Yamazaki handles sender-paid and collect-on-delivery takkyubin plus golf, airport, lodging round-trip, and multi-piece forms. Payment is cash only, Yamato-bin freight and cool services are excluded, and some station or facility stores do not handle parcels.⁶

Stamps, postcards, revenue stamps, Letter Pack, and municipal garbage-processing tickets are sold at counters, with exact stock varying by store.¹³⁶

Match the slip to the chain before you queue

A Yamato waybill belongs at 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, or Daily Yamazaki, while a Yu-Pack slip belongs at Lawson. Sorting this before queuing saves a second trip with a heavy box.⁸¹⁰⁹

Pickup and returns

Online orders can be designated for konbini pickup: 7-Eleven receipt service, FamilyMart store receipt including Yamato parcels, and Lawson konbini receipt service.¹²³ This covers nights when home delivery would miss you.

Yamato absent parcels can be redirected to a FamilyMart store for pickup through the store-receipt flow.⁹ A konbini address cannot be written directly as the receiver address; arrange the redirect through the Yamato notice or member flow instead.⁸

Marketplace and auction returns ship from konbini without a home printer. FamilyMart issues the slip at the multicopy machine and takes the parcel at the register, Lawson issues the e-hasso slip at Loppi for Japan Post Yu-Pack and Yu-Packet, and 7-Eleven handles auction and flea-app parcels at the delivery counter.⁹¹⁰¹

Printing, copying, and certificates

The マルチコピー機 (maruchi kopī-ki, "multifunction copier-printer") is the printing, scanning, fax, ticket, and certificate kiosk in every chain.¹¹³ All five chains list copy, print, scan, and fax on the same machine, plus app and network upload printing.¹²³⁵⁶

Everyday printing and scanning

Everyday jobs need no account: copy a form, print a PDF from USB or SD media, print photos from a phone app such as PrintSmash or Famima Network Print, scan to USB or phone, or send a domestic or overseas fax.¹³⁶

Lawson plain-paper copy and PDF print fees start at 10 yen per side black and white and 50 yen per side color at B5, A4, and B4 with 80 yen per side color at A3 (as of 2026-09-06; confirm current figures with Lawson).¹³ Photo prints, scans, and fax sends follow the table bands below (as of 2026-09-06).¹³

Job	Fee	As of	Notes
Copy and PDF print, black and white	10 yen per side	2026-09-0613	Plain paper B5 to A3
Copy and PDF print, color	50 yen per side	2026-09-0613	Plain paper B5 to A4 and B4
Copy and PDF print, color A3	80 yen per side	2026-09-0613	Plain paper A3
Photo print L	30 yen per print	2026-09-0613	Photo paper
Photo print 2L	80 yen per print	2026-09-0613	Photo paper
Scan to USB or phone	30 yen per side	2026-09-0613	All sizes
Fax domestic	50 yen	2026-09-0613	Send
Fax overseas zone 1	100 yen	2026-09-0613	Country-code 1 zone
Fax overseas zone 2	150 yen	2026-09-0613	Other zones

All table bands above are Lawson multicopy fees (as of 2026-09-06).¹³

Daily Yamazaki publishes matching bands: black-and-white copy and document print 10 yen all sizes, color copy B4 and below 50 yen and A3 80 yen, photo L 30 yen and 2L 80 yen (as of 2026-09-06), ID photo 200 yen, scan to USB 30 yen, domestic fax 50 yen normal and 60 yen fine (as of 2026-09-06).⁶

Certificates with a My Number Card

With a My Number Card or a loaded smartphone certificate, residents of participating municipalities can print a 住民票の写し (jūminhyō no utsushi, "copy of residence record"), seal-registration certificates, tax certificates, 戸籍証明書 (koseki shōmeisho, "family register certificates"), and附票 copies from the kiosk.⁴¹³

Two preconditions apply for a residence-municipality certificate: the residence municipality participates in konbini issuance, and the user holds a My Number Card or a smartphone with a loaded smartphone certificate.⁴ Where residence and honseki municipalities differ, family-register service adds a third step: prior registration with the honseki municipality.⁴

Certificates are available in a standard window of 6:30 to 23:00, with municipal variation on types, fees, and hours (as of 2026-09-06; confirm current details with your municipality).¹³ 7-Eleven notes its administrative service covers residence-record copies and seal-registration certificates only in participating municipalities.¹

Confirm certificate support with your city first

Available documents, fees, and hours vary by municipality, and cross-municipality family-register service needs advance registration. A ward-office visit is still the fallback where the city does not participate.⁴¹³

Cash, tickets, and gift cards

Cash and tickets sit side by side at the konbini: an ATM wall plus a ticket and prepaid lane. This pairing is what lets a resident handle money and leisure booking in one stop.¹²³

ATMs at the konbini

Every konbini hosts at least one ATM: Seven Bank at 7-Eleven; FamilyMart, E-net, and Japan Post Bank machines at FamilyMart; Lawson Bank at Lawson; Aeon Bank at Ministop with some stores excepted.¹²³⁵

Seven Bank ATMs accept overseas-issued Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, Amex, JCB, Discover, and Diners Club cards for yen withdrawals day or night.⁷ Overseas-card service hours run 0:00 to 24:00 for Visa and Mastercard, 0:10 to 23:50 for UnionPay, JCB, and Discover, 0:05 to 23:50 for Amex, and 0:05 to 23:55 for Diners Club, with 365-day operation (as of 2026-09-06; confirm current figures with Seven Bank).¹⁴

Per-withdrawal limits for overseas-issued cards are 100,000 yen, or 30,000 yen for magnetic-stripe transactions, with fees varying by card brand (as of 2026-09-06).¹⁴ Lawson Bank ATMs accept overseas-issued Visa, Mastercard, JCB, and UnionPay for 24-hour yen withdrawals with English, Simplified Chinese, and Korean screens.³

Lawson notes credit cards cannot be used for bill and specified Loppi payments even where cards work for goods.¹² Plan cash for the bill and ticket lanes even when groceries go on a card.

Event tickets and gift cards

Ticket flows run through the multicopy machine or Loppi in one pattern: reserve online, enter the reservation number at the kiosk, take the issued slip to the register, pay, and receive the ticket.¹²³⁵ Handled types include concerts and events, movies, sports including toto and BIG, leisure parks, Tokyo Disney Resort, highway and express buses, and JTB travel products, varying by chain portal.¹²³

Gift and prepaid cards sit on the shelf or at the register: Apple Gift Card, Google Play, Amazon gift cards, QUO cards, game cards for Nintendo and PlayStation, and entertainment money.⁶¹³ Daily Yamazaki publishes denominations from 1,000 yen to variable upper bands by card brand.⁶

Lawson lists prepaid sheets and net-money sales plus lottery (loto, numbers, bingo 5) and sports lottery through Loppi.³

Good to know

Bill payment fails without a scannable barcode

A register cannot accept a bill without a printed barcode or the designated smartphone barcode. Credit cards do not fix this, since Lawson and Daily Yamazaki state cards cannot be used for these slips.¹²⁶

Readers who arrive with a bank-transfer form or an expired slip are turned away. Request a reissued slip from the biller first, then bring it to the counter.

Parcel carriers split by chain, so check the sticker first

A Yamato waybill belongs at 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, or Daily Yamazaki, while a Yu-Pack slip belongs at Lawson.⁸¹⁰⁹ FamilyMart caps parcels at 160 size and 25 kg, while Lawson Yu-Pack caps at 1.7 m total and 25 kg.⁹¹⁰

Carrying a box to the wrong chain wastes a trip with weight. The door sticker and the slip header together decide the correct counter.

Certificate issuance follows your municipality, not the store brand

Konbini certificate printing needs municipality participation plus a My Number Card, and document types, fees, and hours vary by city.⁴¹³ The standard window of 6:30 to 23:00 is municipal-dependent (as of 2026-09-06).¹³

Cross-municipality family-register service needs advance registration with the honseki city.⁴ Where the city does not participate, the ward or city office counter is still the path.

Ticket kiosks assume a reservation number and Japanese menus

Loppi and multicopy ticket flows assume a prior online reservation number, and screens beyond copy and print are Japanese-first with limited English.¹³ Arriving without the number stalls the transaction at the machine.

Complete the web reservation first, copy the number accurately, and expect to pay at the register after the slip prints.

See also

• Hanko and Signature for Delivery Receipts
• Mail-Forwarding at Move and Departure
• Move-Out Procedures: Closing Utility Accounts
• Online Grocery in Japan: Amazon Fresh, Rakuten Seiyu, COOP, Oisix
• Supermarket Tiers: Premium, Mainstream, Discount
• ATM Hours and the 7-Eleven (Seven Bank) Default

References

Footnotes

1. Seven-Eleven Japan. 「サービス」. https://www.sej.co.jp/services.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷

2. FamilyMart Co., Ltd. 「サービス」. https://www.family.co.jp/services.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹

3. Lawson, Inc. 「サービス」. https://www.lawson.co.jp/service/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷

4. Japan Agency for Local Authority Information Systems (J-LIS). 「コンビニエンスストア等における証明書等の自動交付: サービスご利用前の準備」. https://swww.lg-waps.go.jp/01-02.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

5. Ministop Co., Ltd. 「サービス」. https://www.ministop.co.jp/service/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

6. Daily Yamazaki (Yamazaki Baking). 「サービス」. https://www.daily-yamazaki.jp/service/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰

7. Seven Bank, Ltd. 「You can withdraw Japanese yen from ATMs at 7-Eleven stores」 (English). https://www.sevenbank.co.jp/intlcard/index2.html ↩ ↩²

8. Yamato Transport Co., Ltd. 「Is it possible to send luggage/parcel from 7-Eleven or FamilyMart?」 English FAQ No. 6070. https://faq-en.kuronekoyamato.co.jp/app/answers/detail/a_id/6070/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

9. FamilyMart Co., Ltd. 「宅配便・配送」. https://www.family.co.jp/services/delivery/home_delivery.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

10. Lawson, Inc. 「ゆうパック受付」. https://www.lawson.co.jp/service/shipment/yupack/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

11. FamilyMart Co., Ltd. 「各種代金のお支払い【払込票（紙・スマホ）】」. https://www.family.co.jp/services/application/receipt1.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

12. Lawson, Inc. 「Welcome to Japan」 (English services page: payment methods, ATM). https://www.lawson.co.jp/service/others/in/lang/en.html ↩ ↩² ↩³

13. Lawson, Inc. 「新型マルチコピー機について」 (copy, fax, scan, print, admin service). https://www.lawson.co.jp/service/others/multicopy/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹

14. Seven Bank, Ltd. 「Overseas Cards Usable at ATMs」 (English). https://www.sevenbank.co.jp/intlcard/card2.html ↩ ↩²