When I get home from shopping and unpack my bags, I’m left with a pile of plastic. I wanted to shop with less waste. That’s how I got interested in buying in bulk.
But bulk shops are still rare in Japan, and just finding one took work. I brought plastic tubs and jars and bought only a little at first. Once I saw what a shop sold, I knew which containers to bring the next time.
You wash your containers and use them again and again, so buying in bulk is easier on the environment. It does mean more to carry when you go shopping, though.
Below, I introduce 12 bulk and refill shops in Tokyo that I looked into from five angles. It’s written for people living in Tokyo who can bring their own containers. I’ve noted what I could confirm, and also what I couldn’t.
Quick summary: choose by what matters to you
If you just want the list, here are the shops grouped by what matters to you. You’ll find the reasons in each shop’s section further down.
| What matters to you | Shops | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Bringing jars and containers from home | • Nono • Tsurukame Shoten • Liten refill shop • ecostore | All of them let you fill your own containers. You can start without buying anything new |
| Trying it out, even without containers | • Nono • Bio c’ Bon | At Nono, you can buy paper bags or jars, and sometimes take a donated container. At Bio c’ Bon, you can buy paper bags |
| Not adding more detergent bottles | • ecostore | You can fill your own container with laundry or dish detergent. No need to buy another bottle |
| Shopping at small local shops | • Nono • Tsurukame Shoten • Liten refill shop • Kitajimaya Saketen | Independent shops with roots in their neighborhoods. Nono also sells local vegetables |
| Stopping by on your commute or errands | • AKOMEYA TOKYO • Bio c’ Bon • ecostore | They’re inside station buildings and shopping centers. You can stop by on your usual route, with no special trip |
| Buying alcohol in reusable bottles | • Liquor Shop NIGHT OWL • TAP&GROWLER | They fill reusable bottles called growlers with beer and other drinks |
Some shops show up in more than one row. That just means they meet several of these priorities at once.
What does buying in bulk actually cut?
Buying in bulk cuts single-use packaging. In exchange, you take on the work of washing containers and bringing them along, and you have more to carry.
What you already have at home is enough: plastic tubs, empty jars, and zip-top storage bags. For liquids, choose a container with a lid that closes tightly. After one look at what a shop sells, you’ll know which containers you need next time.
In Japanese, selling by weight or volume is called 量り売り (hakariuri). It’s the word to look for on shop signs and websites.
What gets cut differs from shop to shop, even among bulk shops.
ecostore, a detergent brand, runs two systems side by side in the same store. One is bulk refilling into your own container. The other, called ecofill, fills a dedicated pack that you pay for. You can reuse the pack many times, but you have to buy the first one.
Kitajimaya Saketen, a sake shop, explains that selling by volume cuts the cost of bottles and labels. Customers, though, choose and buy a bottle in the shop. What gets cut is the bottling and labeling on the supplier’s side.
LUSH is less a bulk shop than a shop that sells products without packaging. You don’t need to bring a container.
Going to the shop, or ordering refill packs online
This is where the choice splits. Take containers to a shop, and almost no packaging is left over, but you have more to carry. Ordering refill packs online is the reverse.
What about price? Going by ecostore’s official prices, its laundry detergent cost less per unit at the refill station than in a refill pack. Bulk detergent is sold by the gram and the packs by the milliliter, though, so it isn’t a direct comparison.
On weeks when you can’t get to a shop, refill packs are another option. Even when you can’t bring a container, they mean less packaging than buying a new bottle.
Good to know first: selection criteria
I looked into the shops in this guide from the five angles below. What I checked is whether each point could be confirmed on the shop’s official website or social media. A shop that isn’t listed here may still be doing all of this.
- Buying only what you need: Does the shop officially say you can choose the amount?
- Reusable containers: Does it explain whether you can bring your own containers or reuse its containers?
- Who runs it: Can you tell from official sources which company or owner runs the shop?
- Local ties: Does it sell local produce, or goods bought directly from the people who make them? Has it been part of its neighborhood for a while?
- Openness about conditions: Does it publish its container rules, products, and opening days on its website or social media?
All information is based on primary sources (each shop’s official website and social media), as checked on October 7, 2026.
Some shops don’t say officially what they sell in bulk or which containers they accept. Where that’s the case, I’ve noted it under “Trade-offs” for that shop.
Neighborhood bulk shops
1. Nono (量り売りとまちの台所 野の)
📍 Shimorenjaku, Mitaka 🫙 Your own containers, paper bags or jars from the shop, donated containers
Nono sells seasonings, food staples, local vegetables, and household goods by weight. Its website says it carries goods “made with care, in ways that put as little burden on the natural environment as possible” (my translation).
You can bring your own containers. You can also buy paper bags or jars at the shop, and if there are donated containers, you may be able to take one.
Editor’s take: You can start without any containers and switch to your own once you’re used to it. It’s a good place for a first visit.
Trade-offs: The container options aren’t on the official website. I confirmed them through the shop’s own posts, so check its social media before you go.
2. Tsurukame Shoten (つるかめ商店)
📍 Kamiuma, Setagaya (a walk from Sangen-jaya Station) 🫙 Bring your own containers
A shop where you can buy food by weight, in just the amount you need. Its website puts it simply: “You can buy whatever you like, in just the amount you need, by weight” (my translation).
Bringing your own containers is the norm. The website says the shop generally doesn’t provide bags or containers. It asks you to bring tubs, storage jars, or bags. If you forget, you can ask the staff.
Editor’s take: The shop is clear that you bring your own containers, so you won’t be unsure what to pack. For drinks, bring your own tumbler and you’ll get a discount.
Trade-offs: The website doesn’t list which items are sold by weight.
3. Liten refill shop
📍 Kajino-cho, Koganei (Higashi-Koganei) 🫙 Bring your own containers
Liten sells sweets, tea bags, nuts, dried fruit, pasta, and more by weight. You bring your own containers and fill them there.
Editor’s take: It stocks things you use a little of every day, like snacks and tea. Trying small amounts is what bulk shopping does best.
Trade-offs: I couldn’t find out whether you can buy containers at the shop. Its official information is mostly on Instagram, so check its opening days there.
4. Soybean Farm (ソイビーンファーム)
📍 Kichijoji Honcho, Musashino 🛒 Miso
A miso specialist that calls itself “a shop selling miso by weight” on its website (my translation). It also serves lunch. Online, too, you can choose how much to buy.
Editor’s take: Miso goes into something almost every day, yet buying an amount you can finish is surprisingly hard. When you can buy just as much as you want, it doesn’t sit in the fridge going stale.
Trade-offs: The website doesn’t say whether you can bring your own container. Check with the shop before you go.
Bulk corners on your everyday shopping route
5. Bio c’ Bon
📍 Stores across Tokyo 🫙 Paper bags for sale
An organic supermarket. It sells some goods by weight in one corner of the store. The same bulk products are also sold in any amount in its online store.
You can buy paper bags in the store, so you can try it without containers of your own.
Editor’s take: You can start by adding one bulk item to your usual supermarket run.
Trade-offs: The website doesn’t say which Tokyo stores have a bulk section. I also couldn’t find out whether you can bring your own containers.
6. AKOMEYA TOKYO
📍 9 stores in Tokyo (Newoman Shinjuku, Tokyu Plaza Shibuya, and others) 🛒 Rice
A shop for rice and food. Some locations sell brown rice by weight and will mill it for you on the spot.
On the official store list, these nine stores in Tokyo are marked as selling rice by weight:
- in la kagu
- Newoman Shinjuku
- Tokyu Plaza Shibuya
- Tokyo Dome City LaQua
- Newoman Takanawa
- OIMACHI TRACKS
- JIYUGAOKA de aone
- Atre Kameido
- Lumine Kita-Senju
Editor’s take: You can buy rice milled in just the amount you’ll eat. Many of the stores are in station buildings, so you can stop by on your way home.
Trade-offs: The website doesn’t say how containers or bags are handled.
7. 85
📍 Nihonbashi Muromachi, Chuo (COREDO Muromachi Terrace) 🛒 Miso
A fermented-food shop built around the idea of “a life with fermentation” (my translation). It sells miso by weight in the store.
Editor’s take: You can look through fermented foods and seasonings all in one place. It’s easy to stop by when you have errands in Nihonbashi.
Trade-offs: The official online shop doesn’t mention bulk sales. I confirmed them through the shop’s social media. I couldn’t find out how containers are handled.
Buying alcohol by volume
8. Liquor Shop NIGHT OWL
📍 Ebisu, Shibuya (Ebisu Station) 🫙 Growlers and crowlers
A shop that fills growlers and crowlers with drinks straight from the keg. It also holds in-store events, such as a monthly tasting.
Prices are given product by product, and the staff can help you choose something within your budget.
Editor’s take: Even if you don’t know what to pick, you can talk it through with the staff.
Trade-offs: I couldn’t confirm on the official website whether you can bring your own container.
9. TAP&GROWLER
📍 Kitazawa, Setagaya (Shimokitazawa) 🫙 Reusable growlers
A craft beer shop that calls itself “a specialty shop selling by volume in reusable growlers” on its website (my translation). Each order is filled with a dedicated filling machine.
The same company also runs TAP&CROWLER in Shibuya and TAP&TUMBLER in Ebisu.
Editor’s take: Buying in a bottle you can reuse is at the heart of how this shop sells.
Trade-offs: The website doesn’t say whether you can bring your own container.
10. Godaime Kitajimaya Saketen (五代目 北嶋屋酒店)
📍 Ota City 🛒 Sake, shochu, umeshu
A liquor shop that dates back to the early Meiji era, in the late 1800s. It has sold by volume since the mid-1990s.
You can taste before you choose. The shop sells undiluted, unpasteurized sake (nama genshu), shochu, and umeshu (plum liqueur), bought through direct ties with the breweries.
You choose a bottle in the shop. Besides the standard 720ml and 1.8-liter sake bottles, there are bottles you can use as a vase once they’re empty. You can also have a name or message brushed onto the label.
Editor’s take: The shop explains that selling by volume cuts the cost of bottles and labels. That saving happens in a different place than at bulk shops where customers bring containers.
Trade-offs: You buy a bottle at the shop each time. The website doesn’t say whether you can bring your own.
Refilling detergent and toiletries
11. ecostore
📍 Atre Ebisu and 5 other spots in Tokyo 🫙 Clean containers with tight-fitting lids
A detergent brand from New Zealand. At its in-store “Refill Station,” it sells laundry detergent, dish soap, and fabric softener by weight.
Containers must be clean, with lids that close tightly. In Tokyo, six locations offer refills, including ecostore’s own Atre Ebisu store. The others are four Biople stores (Sangen-jaya, Kameido Clock, Lumine Ogikubo, and Machida Marui) and Cosme Kitchen at Tamagawa Takashimaya S.C.
Editor’s take: The website lists its bulk prices, so you can compare them with bottles and refill packs before you decide. It’s an example of a shop that’s open about its conditions.
Trade-offs: At Atre Ebisu, ecofill works only with dedicated packs you pay for. If you want to fill your own container, use the bulk refill station instead.
12. LUSH
📍 Stores across Tokyo 🛒 Soap, shampoo, and more
LUSH sells bar soap, shampoo, and other products without packaging.
Editor’s take: You can buy without taking home any packaging, even with no container. It’s an option for when getting to a bulk shop is hard.
Trade-offs: This isn’t bulk buying in the sense of bringing a container and buying only what you need. What it cuts is packaging, and whether you can choose the amount depends on the product.
Final thoughts
When you choose a bulk shop, first check whether you can bring your own containers. Then look at whether the shop is on your usual route. With both in place, it’s easier to keep going.
For a first visit, I’d suggest buying just a little in a tub or jar you already have. Once you know what the shop sells, you’ll know which containers to bring next.
Before you go, check the opening days on the shop’s website or social media. Wash and dry your containers ahead of time. For more on getting ready, see A Beginner’s Guide to Bulk Shopping in Japan.
If it doesn’t suit you, there’s no need to force it. Choosing refill packs is a reasonable call too.
Is there a shop on your usual route where you could stop by with a container?
