Gluten-Free Shopping in Japan: The Konbini Guide for Coeliacs

What can I actually buy at a konbini? The convenience-store guide for coeliacs in Japan:

• Usually fine, with a label check every time: plain salted onigiri, salmon or umeboshi onigiri, SOYJOY bars (no wheat flour, per Otsuka’s own site), plain boiled eggs, plain rice, fruit and nuts, plain yoghurt and tofu, and Natural Lawson’s gluten-free pastas (per its own site).
• Check the label: crisps, rice crackers, sweets.
• Skip:
  • counter fried food;
  • oden;
  • bento and hot counter food;
  • sandwiches and konbini bread;
  • tuna-mayo and filled onigiri;
  • cup noodles;
  • rice with barley mixed in (もち麦).
• Reading the label: wheat (小麦) must be declared on packaged food in Japan, but barley, rye and oats are not on the allergen list (Consumer Affairs Agency). The guide shows the words to find in the full ingredients list (原材料名): 小麦, 大麦, ライ麦, 麦芽, 醤油, 麩, もち麦.
• Three shopping phrases in Japanese, with romaji.

Colour-coded: usually fine / check / avoid. Sources and read dates are printed in the guide. Instant download · print-ready A4 PDF.

About the Japanese: the shopping phrases were checked line by line in September 2026 by three AI models (Gemini, GPT and Claude) and corrected where needed. A native-speaker check is still pending.

Recipes change and differ between chains: read the whole ingredients list every time. A travel aid, not medical advice.