How to Read Japanese Prices: Yen, Tax Tags, Big Numbers

Japanese prices combine three simple parts: a number, the yen word 円 (or the symbol ¥), and sometimes a tax label like 税込. Once you know that Japan counts in groups of ten thousand, called man, almost any price becomes readable.

This guide walks you through yen symbols, tax tags, and big numbers, with real shop examples and a printable cheat sheet at the end.

The Quick Answer: How Japanese Prices Work

A Japanese price has up to three pieces:

1. The number, written in the same digits you already know (0 to 9).
2. The yen marker, either ¥ before the number or 円 after it.
3. A tax label, most often 税込 (tax included) or 税抜 (tax not included).

So a tag reading 500円（税込） means 500 yen, tax already included. That is the amount you hand over.

The only part that trips people up is large numbers, because Japanese groups digits differently. We will cover that below with a simple pattern.

Yen Symbols You Will See (¥ and 円)

Japan uses two ways to mark yen, and they mean the same thing.

• ¥ is the symbol. It sits before the number, like ¥1,200. You see it on menus, receipts, and price displays.
• 円 is the character for yen (read en). It sits after the number, like 1,200円. You see it on most shop tags.

Both say “yen”. There is no cost difference between them. If you want to hear how 円 sounds and see it beside the kana, the interactive hiragana and katakana chart is a friendly place to start.

One handy detail: yen has no cents. Prices are whole numbers, so you never deal with decimals on a tag.

Reading the Numbers on a Price Tag

Good news first. Japanese price tags almost always use the same Arabic digits you already read every day. A tag that says 298 is two hundred ninety-eight.

Commas work the same way too, marking every three digits for the eye: 1,980 is one thousand nine hundred eighty.

Where Japanese differs is in how the number is said out loud and how very large amounts are grouped. That is the man system, and it is the one thing worth learning well.

Here is the basic vocabulary for saying prices:

Number	Japanese	Reading
100	百	hyaku
1,000	千	sen
10,000	万	man
100,000,000	億	oku

So 300 is san-byaku, 3,000 is san-zen, and 30,000 is san-man. You stack these from largest to smallest, then add en at the end.

Tax Tags to Watch For: 税込 vs 税抜

This is the most useful thing to learn for real shopping. Two small words tell you whether tax is already in the price.

Tag	Reading	Meaning	What you pay
税込	zeikomi	Tax included	The price shown
税抜	zeinuki	Tax excluded	The price plus tax
本体価格	hontai kakaku	Base price (before tax)	Price plus tax
税別	zeibetsu	Tax separate	Price plus tax

You will often see two numbers on one tag. A big number is the base price, and a smaller number nearby (often in brackets, marked 税込) is the real total. Trust the 税込 figure for your wallet.

Since 2021, shops in Japan are generally required to show the tax-included price, so the number you pay is usually easy to find. Still, knowing these four words removes any doubt.

Counting in Man: Why 10,000 Is the Turning Point

English groups big numbers in thousands: 1,000 then 1,000,000 (a thousand thousands). Japanese groups them in ten-thousands, called man (万).

That means the counting “reset point” is 10,000, not 1,000. Here is the simple pattern:

• 1,000 = 千 (sen)
• 10,000 = 1万 (ichi-man)
• 100,000 = 10万 (juu-man)
• 1,000,000 = 100万 (hyaku-man)
• 10,000,000 = 1,000万 (sen-man)
• 100,000,000 = 1億 (ichi-oku)

Notice how the units sen, man, and oku cycle. A trick that helps: mentally split any number into groups of four digits from the right, not three.

For example, 1,250,000 becomes 125|0000. The left group (125) counts man, so it reads hyaku-nijuu-go-man, meaning 1,250,000 yen. Once the groups-of-four habit clicks, big prices stop looking scary.

Reading Big Numbers (10,000 to 100,000,000+)

Let us put the pattern to work with prices you might actually see on electronics, furniture, or rent.

Number	Grouped (÷4)	Japanese	Reading
12,000	1|2000	1万2千円	ichi-man ni-sen en
38,000	3|8000	3万8千円	san-man has-sen en
150,000	15|0000	15万円	juu-go-man en
980,000	98|0000	98万円	kyuu-juu-hachi-man en
1,500,000	150|0000	150万円	hyaku-go-juu-man en
100,000,000	1|0000|0000	1億円	ichi-oku en

Two small sound changes to note: sen becomes zen in san-zen (3,000), and hyaku shifts to byaku or pyaku in some numbers (300 is san-byaku, 600 is rop-pyaku). These are natural pronunciation smoothings, and they come with practice.

Common Price Words on Tags and Receipts

Beyond the number, a few words show up again and again. Knowing them helps you scan a tag or receipt in seconds.

Japanese	Reading	Meaning
合計	goukei	Total
小計	shoukei	Subtotal
消費税	shouhizei	Consumption tax
割引	waribiki	Discount
半額	hangaku	Half price
お会計	o-kaikei	The bill / checkout
円	en	Yen
点	ten	Item count (as in 3点, three items)

On a receipt, the line you care about most is 合計 (goukei), the total. Above it you will often see 小計 for the subtotal and 消費税 for the tax that was added.

To read these kanji with confidence, the animated kanji stroke-order lookup shows how each one is built.

Worked Examples: Real Price Tags Explained

Here are three tags styled like ones you would meet in a convenience store or supermarket.

Example 1: A rice ball

おにぎり
本体 128円
（税込 138円）

The base price is 128 yen. The 税込 line, 138 yen, includes the 8 percent food tax and is what you pay to take it away.

Example 2: A supermarket discount sticker

弁当
半額
500円 → 250円（税込）

The bento was 500 yen. 半額 means half price, so it is now 250 yen, tax included. A great end-of-day find.

Example 3: A small appliance

炊飯器
希望小売価格 19,800円（税抜）

The rice cooker is 19,800 yen, but this tag is 税抜, so tax is added at the register. At 10 percent, you would pay about 21,780 yen. Read as ichi-man kyuu-sen hap-pyaku en before tax.

Notice how each tag mixes a number, the yen word, and a tax label. That is the whole system in action.

Reading Japanese Receipts

A receipt (レシート, reshiito) follows a predictable order from top to bottom:

1. Shop name and date at the top.
2. Each item with its price, often with a small mark showing the 8 percent or 10 percent tax rate.
3. 小計 (subtotal), then 消費税 (tax), then 合計 (total).
4. お預り (amount received) and お釣り (change) at the bottom.

If you only remember one word, remember 合計. That is your total. The furigana converter can add reading hints above any receipt words you paste in, which is handy while you build the habit.

Printable Cheat Sheet: Japanese Price Reading

Want a one-page reference for your wallet or fridge? Save the key vocabulary from the tables above:

• Yen: ¥ (before) or 円 (after) both mean yen.
• Tax: 税込 = included, 税抜 / 税別 / 本体 = tax added later.
• Units: 百 (100), 千 (1,000), 万 (10,000), 億 (100,000,000).
• Trick: group digits in fours from the right to find man and oku.
• Receipt: 小計 subtotal, 消費税 tax, 合計 total.

For a printable page you can write on and quiz yourself with, grab the free Japanese writing practice sheets. Tracing the tax and number kanji by hand helps them stick. You can also test your kana reading with the ten-question kana quiz.

How Kana Conbini Can Help You Practice

Reading prices sinks in fastest when you meet them in a real shopping moment, not just a word list. That is exactly the setting Kana Conbini is built around. There is no single right way to practice, so treat this as one friendly option.

• Conbini Run puts you behind a convenience-store counter, reading hiragana, katakana, and kanji, including price and money words, to serve customers.
• Write Kanji (書き取り) lets you trace tax and number kanji like 税, 込, 万, and 円 by hand in correct stroke order, with guides that fade as you improve.
• 10,000+ real vocabulary words across the full JLPT range, N5 to N1, come with native Japanese voice, so you hear how each amount sounds.
• Smart reviews bring each word back right before you would forget it, and visual hints fade as you master them.
• It is free to start, with no subscription, on iPhone and Android.

Want to see how the writing side works first? Watch the animated stroke-order demo, then browse more free guides on the learn hub.

Sources: MailMate Japan Consumption Tax Guide 2026, Stripe reduced tax rate in Japan