Starbucks picked Japan as an ideal market for its first overseas expansion project owing to the fact that Japan was among the largest coffee importers in the world. With a strategic marketing plan, Starbucks in Japan has managed to become one of the popular coffee chains in the country.
The Asian coffee market has always been complicated due to the region’s millennial love for tea and the traditional rules foreign companies have to follow. From the moment Starbucks opened its doors in Japan in 1996, the Seattle based coffee giant has used strategies that target the Japanese coffee consumers. Despite these restrictions, Starbucks has managed to grow in Japan and now has over 1600 stores with majority of them in Tokyo. In this article, we will look at the distribution of Starbucks in Japan and the potential competitors of the coffee chain.
Table of Contents
Starbucks stores in Japan by region
Region |
Number of Starbucks stores |
Percentage (%) share of total Starbucks in Japan (1630) |
Tokyo |
317 |
19.45% |
Kanagawa |
199 |
12.21% |
Osaka |
178 |
10.92% |
Chiba |
164 |
10.06% |
Aichi |
92 |
5.64% |
Saitama |
63 |
3.87% |
Fukuoka |
48 |
2.94% |
Hyogo |
48 |
2.94% |
Ibaraki |
35 |
2.15% |
Hokkaido |
35 |
2.15% |
Kyoto |
33 |
2.02% |
Shizuoka |
30 |
1.84% |
Miyagi |
29 |
1.78% |
Tochigi |
27 |
1.66% |
Hiroshima |
23 |
1.41% |
Okinawa |
21 |
1.29% |
Gunma |
21 |
1.29% |
Nagano |
19 |
1.17% |
Mie |
16 |
0.98% |
Shiga |
14 |
0.86% |
Gifu |
13 |
0.80% |
Okayama |
12 |
0.74% |
Niigata |
12 |
0.74% |
Aomori |
11 |
0.67% |
Nara |
11 |
0.67% |
Yamanashi |
10 |
0.61% |
Ishikawa |
10 |
0.61% |
Ehime |
10 |
0.61% |
Kumamoto |
10 |
0.61% |
Fukushima |
10 |
0.61% |
Saga |
9 |
0.55% |
Toyama |
9 |
0.55% |
Kagawa |
8 |
0.49% |
Akita |
8 |
0.49% |
Yamagata |
8 |
0.49% |
Iwate |
8 |
0.49% |
Nagasaki |
8 |
0.49% |
Wakayama |
7 |
0.43% |
Oita |
7 |
0.43% |
Fukui |
6 |
0.37% |
Yamaguchi |
6 |
0.37% |
Kagoshima |
5 |
0.31% |
Tottori |
4 |
0.25% |
Shimane |
4 |
0.25% |
Kochi |
4 |
0.25% |
Tokushima |
4 |
0.25% |
Miyazaki |
4 |
0.25% |
Number of Starbucks stores in Japan from 2013- 2022
Year |
Number of Stores |
2013 |
1,000 |
2014 |
1,060 |
2015 |
1,073 |
2016 |
1,140 |
2017 |
1,218 |
2018 |
1,286 |
2019 |
1,379 |
2020 |
1,464 |
2021 |
1,546 |
2022 |
1,630 |
Starbucks Major Competitors in Japan
Competitor |
Number of Stores |
Market Share |
Starbucks |
1630 |
48% |
Doutor |
1068 |
24% |
Tully’s |
700 |
8% |
Pronto |
300 |
7% |
Kai Jordan worked as a Certified Nutrition Specialist and now a food critic whose main objective is to provide consumers with as much information as they need to make the right choices concerning foods and drinks. Jordan is passionate about helping the public reach their health-related goals but also keen on reviewing foods and drinks offered by some of the famous restaurants the likes of Starbucks.
Kai has therefore created well-researched and comprehensive excerpts regarding the services and products offered by the giant restaurant chain. And which can be retrieved from Starbmag.com, apart from talking writing, and dealing with food Kai loves also to Kayak. You can read more about me on the about us page.