Konbini Prices in Japan: 20 Items at 3 Chains (Oct 2026)
What onigiri, fried chicken, coffee and sandwiches cost at 7-Eleven, Lawson and FamilyMart in October 2026: 20 matched items from the chains' own sites.
People ask which convenience store chain is cheapest. On the evidence, it barely matters. We priced the same 20 everyday items at 7-Eleven, Lawson and FamilyMart, and the full basket varied by ¥131, about 3.5%. What does vary is which chain is cheapest for which item, and the difference on a single item can reach ¥30 or more.
How we did it: prices were taken from each chain's own product pages on 16 October 2026: 7-Eleven's Kanto (Tokyo area) listings and Lawson's and FamilyMart's national listings. They are the prices the chains publish, not shelf labels we checked in a store; the chains say prices and availability vary by region and store. For each item we chose the chain's standard version (plain flavour, regular size), not limited editions. All prices include the 8% consumption tax that applies to takeaway food. We will repeat the check every three months.
The basket: 7-Eleven is cheapest, by very little
7-Eleven came out cheapest overall, mostly because of coffee, steamed buns and oden. Lawson and FamilyMart are within ¥8 of each other. The whole 20-item basket differs by less than the price of one onigiri, so use whichever store is closest and choose by item if you have a choice.
Cheapest in bold; where 7-Eleven's rounded price matches another chain's, both are bold. 7-Eleven lists prices to the sen (¥250.56) and rounds the total down at the till; single items are shown rounded down. Coffee sizes are each chain's smallest; latte is each chain's regular size (7-Eleven R, Lawson M, FamilyMart M), which are not identical cups.
| Item | 7-Eleven | Lawson | FamilyMart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fried chicken (Nanachiki / L-Chiki / Famichiki) | ¥250 | ¥248 | ¥248 |
| Tuna-mayo onigiri, hand-rolled | ¥196 | ¥171 | ¥198 |
| Salmon onigiri, hand-rolled | ¥213 | ¥211 | ¥235 |
| Umeboshi (pickled plum) onigiri | ¥196 | ¥184 | ¥198 |
| Kombu onigiri | ¥196 | ¥184 | ¥198 |
| Egg sandwich | ¥300 | ¥297 | ¥298 |
| Mixed sandwich | ¥311 | ¥343 | ¥322 |
| Nikuman (pork bun) | ¥168 | ¥198 | ¥180 |
| Pizza bun | ¥170 | ¥188 | ¥180 |
| Sesame bean-paste bun | ¥160 | ¥168 | ¥160 |
| Oden: daikon | ¥130 | ¥160 | ¥145 |
| Oden: egg | ¥150 | ¥160 | ¥150 |
| American dog (corn dog) | ¥150 | ¥148 | ¥150 |
| Beef croquette | ¥128 | ¥120 | ¥120 |
| Pork frank | ¥213 | ¥208 | ¥198 |
| Hot coffee, smallest | ¥140 | ¥160 | ¥158 |
| Iced coffee, smallest | ¥140 | ¥160 | ¥158 |
| Hot café latte, regular | ¥220 | ¥230 | ¥255 |
| Melon pan | ¥127 | ¥149 | ¥140 |
| Raisin butter rolls, 4-pack | ¥181 | ¥192 | ¥180 |
| Basket total | ¥3,748 | ¥3,879 | ¥3,871 |
Source: 7-Eleven Japan (Kanto listings), Lawson and FamilyMart product pages, checked 16 Oct 2026. Takeaway prices, 8% tax included.
If you are deciding where to stop on a particular morning, the table says: onigiri at Lawson, coffee and a steamed bun at 7-Eleven, and fried chicken anywhere.
Onigiri: Lawson is cheapest on every filling
Lawson's hand-rolled onigiri (the kind with the film that keeps the seaweed crisp) were the cheapest of the three on all four fillings we compared. The gap is biggest on the most popular one: tuna mayo is ¥171 at Lawson, ¥196 at 7-Eleven and ¥198 at FamilyMart. Salmon was close at Lawson and 7-Eleven (¥211 and ¥213) but ¥235 at FamilyMart.
If you eat two onigiri a day for a week, Lawson saves you a few hundred yen over FamilyMart. Not a reason to walk past a 7-Eleven, but a reason to pick Lawson if both are on the corner.
Coffee and hot food: 7-Eleven
7-Eleven's smallest hot or iced coffee is ¥140, against ¥160 at Lawson and ¥158 at FamilyMart. Its regular café latte is also the cheapest at ¥220; FamilyMart's is ¥255.
The steamed buns by the counter follow the same pattern. A standard nikuman is ¥168 at 7-Eleven, ¥180 at FamilyMart and ¥198 at Lawson, and the oden daikon is ¥130 against ¥145 and ¥160. These are small sums, but 7-Eleven is cheapest on most of the hot counter.
Fried chicken: a draw
Each chain's signature boneless fried chicken costs almost the same: Famichiki and Lawson's L-Chiki are ¥248, 7-Eleven's Nanachiki ¥250. Lawson's better-known Karaage-kun, five bite-size pieces in a box, is ¥288. It is a different product and was not in the basket.
Prices have moved a long way in five years. In 2021 a Famichiki was ¥180 (you can read the tag in the photo above). In October 2026 it is ¥248, about 38% more. Konbini food is still cheap by the standards of most visitors' home countries, but older guides that quote ¥100-something onigiri and ¥150 chicken are out of date.
What a konbini meal actually costs
Two common orders, taxes included:
- Lunch: two onigiri (tuna mayo and salmon), one fried chicken, a small hot coffee. ¥790 at Lawson, ¥801 at 7-Eleven, ¥839 at FamilyMart.
- Breakfast: a melon pan and a small hot coffee. ¥267 at 7-Eleven, ¥298 at FamilyMart, ¥309 at Lawson.
So a visitor eating two konbini meals a day should budget roughly ¥1,000–1,500 for those two meals, before drinks from the fridge. For how that fits into a full daily budget, see how much a trip to Japan costs and Japan on a budget.
Eating in costs more
The prices above include the 8% tax rate for takeaway food. Japan's reduced rate covers food and drink except alcohol and eating out, and the National Tax Agency counts eating at a store's own tables as eating out, taxed at 10%. Many konbini have a small eat-in counter. If you use it, say so at the till (staff often ask "o-mochikaeri desu ka?", "is it to take away?") and expect a few yen more per item.
A note on 7-Eleven's odd-looking prices: it lists items to the sen, such as ¥250.56 for a Nanachiki, because it adds tax to the pre-tax price and rounds down only when it totals your purchase. A single item comes to the whole yen below.
Which chain for what
For the wider comparison, including ATMs and desserts, see 7-Eleven vs Lawson vs FamilyMart, and for how konbini fit into daily life, Japanese convenience store culture. On price alone:
- Lawson for onigiri.
- 7-Eleven for coffee, steamed buns, oden and the cheapest basket overall.
- FamilyMart is rarely cheapest, but never far off. It was lowest on the pork frank and the raisin rolls.
We will rerun this basket in January 2027 with the same items, and note any product a chain has dropped or renamed.
Food Desk
The Standard Japan
Where and how to eat in Japan, from konbini and kissaten to izakaya, ramen and department-store food halls.
Facts are taken from primary sources (operators, venues, official tourism and government pages) and dates and prices are checked on the day of writing. Pages are revised when those sources change.
Expertise
Restaurants, izakaya, ramen, food halls, ordering and etiquette
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