Starbucks Coffee Japan

Starbucks Coffee Japan is the Japanese operating company for the Starbucks brand. Established in October 1995 as a joint venture between Starbucks Coffee International and Japanese retailer Sazaby, it opened the first Starbucks store in Japan in Tokyo’s Ginza district on August 2, 1996. The company describes its mission as delivering a high-quality coffee experience and enriching people’s lives, one customer, one cup, and one community at a time. Its core business is operating coffee stores across Japan and selling coffee and related goods. Its offerings include prepared coffee and other beverages, food, packaged coffee, merchandise, reusable drinkware, Starbucks Cards, and digital gift products. The Japanese business also features specialty store formats and regionally distinctive locations. The company says its stores and customer interactions are intended to take root in local communities, and its history includes landmark stores, community-oriented spaces, and locations designed around regional settings. Starbucks Coffee Japan has expanded from its first Tokyo store to a nationwide network. The supplied company history reports 2,116 stores in Japan as of the end of March 2026. The business uses digital services including its app and Mobile Order & Pay, and offers products through channels beyond cafés, including online sales and licensed packaged-product arrangements described in the supplied Japanese Wikipedia entry. After operating as a joint venture with Sazaby, Starbucks Corporation acquired the Japanese company in stages and completed its full ownership in 2015. Starbucks Coffee Japan is therefore an active subsidiary of the global Starbucks group, rather than an independently listed company. Its stated brand priorities include people, communities, and the planet, alongside the coffee experience. The Japanese company describes a long-term ambition to be a community where partners and customers can be themselves and to contribute positively to local and environmental challenges.

Starbucks Coffee Japan was established in October 1995 as a joint venture between Starbucks Coffee International and Sazaby. The Japanese company’s first store opened on August 2, 1996, on Ginza Matsuyadori in Tokyo. The company’s own description frames its subsequent growth around bringing the Starbucks coffee experience to customers in Japan and building connections among partners, customers, and local communities. Expansion included a first store in the Kansai region in 1998 and a 500th Japanese store in Nagoya in 2003. In the years that followed, the company opened stores in a range of settings and pursued formats that connected the brand with local places. The Japanese Wikipedia entry records the 2005 opening of Kamakura Onarimachi as the first Regional Landmark Store, a concept for stores in culturally or locally significant settings. It also describes later expansion into locations such as transport facilities and regional destinations. In 2015, a store in Tottori completed the company’s expansion to all 47 Japanese prefectures. The company’s store network reached 1,000 locations in 2013, according to the supplied Japanese Wikipedia entry. That year it also moved its headquarters from Shibuya to Shinagawa, Tokyo. Starbucks Corporation announced a plan to take full control of the Japanese company in September 2014. It acquired Sazaby’s shares in October 2014 and completed the process of becoming the sole owner in March 2015, after which the Japanese company was delisted. Digital services and sustainability initiatives became part of the company’s Japan business. Starbucks Card was introduced in Japan in 2002. The supplied Japanese Wikipedia entry records the introduction of public Wi-Fi in stores beginning in 2009, with rollout across the country by 2010. In 2020, the company began a transition from plastic to paper straws; the entry says it later shifted to plant-derived biomass-plastic straws nationwide in March 2025. It also records reusable-cup trials and a wider rollout of lidless service for some cold drinks. In 2021, Japan’s 25th-anniversary activities included the 47 JIMOTO Frappuccino project, and the first Japanese Greener Store opened at the Imperial Palace Outer Gardens. The company continues to operate a broad Japanese store network and develop digital, retail, and community-facing offerings. Its company history page reports 2,116 Japanese stores at the end of March 2026. Its stated brand principles emphasize people, communities, and the planet, while its company description presents the coffee experience and everyday human connection as central to its mission.

• Japanese joint venture established

• First Japanese store opens in Ginza

• First Kansai-region store opens

• Japanese company lists shares

• Starbucks Card introduced in Japan

• 500th Japanese store opens

• First Regional Landmark Store opens

• In-store public Wi-Fi rollout begins

• Wi-Fi rollout reaches stores nationwide

• Headquarters moves to Shinagawa

• Japanese store network reaches 1,000

• Starbucks announces plan to acquire full ownership

• Starbucks Corporation completes full ownership

• Stores reach all 47 prefectures

• Straw material transition begins

• 25th-anniversary and Greener Store initiatives

• Biomass-plastic straws introduced nationwide

• Japanese store count reported at 2,116

A coffeehouse brand and Japanese operating business centered on the coffee experience, personal customer interaction, community connection, and locally rooted stores. The company also identifies people, communities, and the planet as core areas of focus.

• Coffee and espresso beverages

  Coffee drinks sold in Japanese Starbucks stores.

• Seasonal beverages

  The official Japanese website features seasonal beverage launches, including limited-time Frappuccino and tea-based drinks.

• Packaged coffee and capsules

  The official site lists packaged coffee and capsule products, including limited-edition Sumatra capsules for Nespresso Vertuo.

• Chilled-cup beverages

  The official site promotes Starbucks chilled-cup products, including white chocolate latte and hojicha and tea latte.

• Drinkware and merchandise

  The Japanese online store lists seasonal bottles, tumblers, cold cups, and mugs.

• Starbucks Card and digital gifts

  The company offers Starbucks Card, digital card gifts, and Starbucks eGift products.

• Decision to move toward full ownershipOther

• Full acquisition and delistingOther

• Location-based pricing introducedOther

1. 1Starbucks Coffee Japan - スターバックス コーヒー ジャパンstarbucks.co.jp
2. 2沿革（2026年度）｜スターバックス コーヒー ジャパンstarbucks.co.jp
3. 3会社案内｜スターバックス コーヒー ジャパンstarbucks.co.jp
4. 4スターバックスを知る｜スターバックス コーヒー ジャパンstarbucks.co.jp
5. 5Starbucks Coffee Japanwikidata.org
6. 6スターバックスコーヒージャパンja.wikipedia.org