Konbini Vocabulary: 60+ Japanese Convenience Store Words

A konbini (コンビニ) is a Japanese convenience store, and this page is a categorized vocabulary list for shopping in one. Below you will find the food, drink, counter, and sign words you actually meet, each with the Japanese, the kana, the romaji, and the meaning so you can read every entry.

There is no single right way to learn these words; do what feels right for you. Some people memorize a short core list, others learn words section by section as they shop. This guide gives you both, plus a free printable cheat sheet at the end.

What konbini means and why this vocabulary helps

Konbini is a shortened form of the English “convenience store,” written in katakana as コンビニ. Big chains like 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, and Lawson are all konbini, and they sell food, drinks, everyday goods, and a surprising range of services.

A short visit touches a lot of language fast: a greeting, a question about warming your food, a question about a bag, a total price, and a goodbye. Knowing even ten of these words turns a stressful moment into a smooth one. This vocabulary is also great beginner practice because the words are concrete, common, and repeat every single time you go.

How to read this list (kana, romaji, and meaning)

Every table below has four columns so you can read each word in the way that helps you most.

Column	What it shows	Example
Japanese	The word as written in a store	袋
Kana	The reading in hiragana or katakana	ふくろ
Romaji	The sound written in the Latin alphabet	fukuro
Meaning	The plain English meaning	bag

A quick note on the two kana scripts. Hiragana is used for many everyday Japanese words, and katakana is used mostly for borrowed words from other languages. Convenience stores are full of katakana because so many products came from abroad, so spotting katakana is a real shopping skill.

For romaji, a long vowel is written doubled, as in reshiito. Read it as a held sound, not two separate beats.

Core konbini words you will see first

Start here. These few words appear at every store, every visit, and they carry most of a quick trip.

Japanese	Kana	Romaji	Meaning
コンビニ	コンビニ	konbini	convenience store
店員	てんいん	ten’in	store staff
レジ	レジ	reji	register, checkout
お会計	おかいけい	okaikei	the bill, payment
袋	ふくろ	fukuro	bag
ビニール袋	ビニールぶくろ	biniiru-bukuro	plastic bag
商品	しょうひん	shouhin	product, item
値段	ねだん	nedan	price
お金	おかね	okane	money
現金	げんきん	genkin	cash

Reji (レジ) is the checkout counter and one of the most useful katakana words to recognize. Fukuro (袋) is “bag,” and you will hear it in the question fukuro wa irimasu ka, meaning “do you need a bag?”

Food vocabulary: onigiri, bento, oden, and hot snacks

Konbini food is famous for a reason. Here are the items you will reach for most.

Japanese	Kana	Romaji	Meaning
おにぎり	おにぎり	onigiri	rice ball
お弁当	おべんとう	obentou	boxed meal
サンドイッチ	サンドイッチ	sandoicchi	sandwich
パン	パン	pan	bread
おでん	おでん	oden	simmered hot pot items
肉まん	にくまん	nikuman	steamed pork bun
からあげ	からあげ	karaage	fried chicken
ホットスナック	ホットスナック	hotto sunakku	hot snack (fried counter food)
カップ麺	カップめん	kappu men	cup noodles
アイス	アイス	aisu	ice cream
お菓子	おかし	okashi	snacks, sweets
デザート	デザート	dezaato	dessert

Onigiri (おにぎり) is a filled rice ball wrapped in seaweed, and the wrapper has a clever pull-tab so the seaweed stays crisp. Oden (おでん) is a warm tray of simmered items like egg, daikon radish, and fish cake, common in cooler months; you point at the pieces you want and say how many. Hotto sunakku (ホットスナック) is the case of fried foods by the register, and the staff serve those for you.

Drinks vocabulary: coffee, tea, water, and the cold case

Drinks line a long cold case, plus there is often a fresh coffee machine by the counter.

Japanese	Kana	Romaji	Meaning
飲み物	のみもの	nomimono	drink, beverage
水	みず	mizu	water
お茶	おちゃ	ocha	tea (often green tea)
コーヒー	コーヒー	koohii	coffee
ホット	ホット	hotto	hot (drink)
アイス	アイス	aisu	iced (drink)
ジュース	ジュース	juusu	juice
牛乳	ぎゅうにゅう	gyuunyuu	milk
ビール	ビール	biiru	beer
お酒	おさけ	osake	alcohol
炭酸	たんさん	tansan	carbonated, fizzy

For machine coffee, the two words you need are hotto (ホット) for hot and aisu (アイス) for iced. Notice how many drink words are katakana loanwords, which makes the cold case good katakana reading practice.

At the counter: words the staff actually say to you

This is the part most travel guides skip and most learners want. Here is what you are likely to hear, in roughly the order it happens.

Japanese	Kana	Romaji	Meaning
いらっしゃいませ	いらっしゃいませ	irasshaimase	welcome (greeting)
温めますか	あたためますか	atatamemasu ka	shall I warm it up?
袋はご利用ですか	ふくろはごりようですか	fukuro wa goriyou desu ka	would you like a bag?
お箸はおつけしますか	おはしはおつけしますか	ohashi wa otsuke shimasu ka	shall I add chopsticks?
ポイントカードはお持ちですか	ポイントカードはおもちですか	pointo kaado wa omochi desu ka	do you have a point card?
〜円になります	〜えんになります	en ni narimasu	that comes to ~ yen
お支払いは	おしはらいは	oshiharai wa	how will you pay?
ありがとうございました	ありがとうございました	arigatou gozaimashita	thank you very much

Atatamemasu ka (温めますか) means “shall I warm it up?” Staff ask this for bento and fried items. A few short answers cover almost everything:

• Hai, onegaishimasu. (はい、お願いします): Yes, please.
• Daijoubu desu. (大丈夫です): No, I am fine.
• Fukuro wa iranai desu. (袋はいらないです): I do not need a bag.
• Reshiito o kudasai. (レシートをください): A receipt, please.

Words on signs and packaging (hot, cold, spicy, sold out, tax)

These words live on shelf tags, screens, and wrappers. They are easy to miss in a guidebook but you see them constantly.

Japanese	Kana	Romaji	Meaning
温め	あたため	atatame	warming, heat up
冷たい	つめたい	tsumetai	cold
辛口	からくち	karakuchi	spicy (hot taste)
甘口	あまくち	amakuchi	mild, sweet (taste)
売り切れ	うりきれ	urikire	sold out
税込	ぜいこみ	zeikomi	tax included
税別	ぜいべつ	zeibetsu	tax not included
新商品	しんしょうひん	shin shouhin	new product
数量限定	すうりょうげんてい	suuryou gentei	limited quantity
賞味期限	しょうみきげん	shoumi kigen	best-by date

Two price words matter most. Zeikomi (税込) means the price shown already includes tax, so that is what you pay. Zeibetsu (税別) means tax gets added at the register.

A few of these kanji are worth learning to write, because they appear so often. Stroke order in Japanese follows steady patterns: generally top to bottom, left to right, with the radical first. Three high-frequency konbini kanji are good starters:

Kanji	Reading	Meaning	Strokes	Quick note
袋	ふくろ (fukuro)	bag	11	Write the top part first, then the “clothing” element below.
温	あたた(める) (atata-)	warm	12	Start with the three-stroke water radical on the left.
辛	から(い) (kara-)	spicy	7	Build it top to bottom, finishing with the long center stroke.

If you want to see the strokes move, the animated stroke-order demo shows the path one stroke at a time. To trace them yourself with guides that fade as you go, the write by hand app covers these kanji and the rest.

Utensils and small extras (chopsticks, spoon, straw, receipt)

These are the little add-ons the staff offer or drop in your bag.

Japanese	Kana	Romaji	Meaning
お箸	おはし	ohashi	chopsticks
スプーン	スプーン	supuun	spoon
フォーク	フォーク	fooku	fork
ストロー	ストロー	sutoroo	straw
おしぼり	おしぼり	oshibori	wet wipe
レシート	レシート	reshiito	receipt (printed slip)
領収書	りょうしゅうしょ	ryoushuusho	formal receipt
温め用	あたためよう	atatame you	for heating (microwave-safe)

There are two “receipt” words. Reshiito (レシート) is the normal printed slip. Ryoushuusho (領収書) is a formal receipt with a company name, which you ask for when you need it for work or expenses.

Services beyond snacks (ATM, restroom, copies, tickets)

A konbini is more than food. Knowing these words helps you handle errands too.

Japanese	Kana	Romaji	Meaning
ATM	エーティーエム	eetiiemu	cash machine
お手洗い	おてあらい	otearai	restroom
トイレ	トイレ	toire	toilet, restroom
コピー機	コピーき	kopii ki	copy machine
宅配便	たくはいびん	takuhaibin	parcel delivery
チケット	チケット	chiketto	ticket
公共料金	こうきょうりょうきん	koukyou ryoukin	utility bills
切手	きって	kitte	postage stamp

To ask where something is, use the pattern … wa doko desu ka, meaning “where is …?” For example, otearai wa doko desu ka asks where the restroom is.

Quick practice: a short konbini visit start to finish

Here is one full visit using the words above. Read it through once, then try saying your lines out loud.

1. You walk in. The staff call out irasshaimase (welcome). You do not need to reply; a small nod is fine.
2. You pick food and a drink. You grab an obentou (boxed meal) and a hotto (hot) coffee from the case.
3. You go to the reji. You set your items on the counter at the reji (register).
4. Staff asks about warming. You hear atatamemasu ka (shall I warm it up?). You answer hai, onegaishimasu (yes, please).
5. Staff asks about a bag. You hear fukuro wa goriyou desu ka (would you like a bag?). You answer daijoubu desu (I am fine) if you brought your own.
6. You pay. The staff says the total, … en ni narimasu. You pay with genkin (cash) or a card.
7. You ask for a receipt. You say reshiito o kudasai (a receipt, please).
8. You leave. The staff says arigatou gozaimashita (thank you very much). You are done.

Run through this a few times and the real thing feels routine. If you would rather rehearse a full visit through play, the convenience-store game puts you behind the counter reading these same words to serve customers. To keep practicing on paper, the free printable worksheets give you space to copy the kana and kanji from this list by hand.

How Kana Conbini can help

If you enjoy learning by doing, Kana Conbini is one friendly option built around this exact setting. It is free to start, with no subscription, on iPhone and Android.

• Conbini Run is a convenience-store game where you read hiragana, katakana, and kanji to serve customers, so words like the ones above show up in context.
• Write Kanji (書き取り) is a handwriting mode for tracing all 46 hiragana, 46 katakana, and 2,126 kanji in correct stroke order, with on-screen guides that fade as you improve.
• Over 10,000 real vocabulary words across the full range from N5 to N1, each with native Japanese voice, so you hear the sound as you read.
• Smart reviews bring each word back right before you would forget it, and visual hints fade as you master each one.
• In the free tier, daily handwriting uses an energy meter that refills over time or with an ad, and a one-time pack makes it unlimited.

You can find more guides like this on the learn hub, see the stroke-order demo on the home page, and start with the printable konbini word list whenever you are ready. There is no single right way to practice, so pick the parts that fit you.