Where do Japanese consumers buy their food?

Abstract

Japan's 120 million consumers can buy their groceries at over 600,000 stores. In comparison, the 230 million consumers living in the United States are served by less than 40% this number of stores. Like the agricultural sector which supplies about half of the food sold through Japanese stores, the retail sector in Japan is experiencing change. These changes are potentially as important for the retail sector as the removal of import quotas on beef have been for the Japanese beef and dairy industries. The new policies could have farreaching consequences for the way Japanese households purchase their food and also for foreign firms supplying food products to Japan.