Japanese Shopping Phrases: How Much Is This and Tax Free

🗣️ Shopping is where your Japanese stops being one-directional — you have to ask a question and then understand the answer. SoraSpeak gives you unscripted spoken practice with AI Japanese teachers, plus instant corrections on grammar, particles and politeness explained in simple English. Free daily tier, in your browser. Start a free speaking session →

Here is the short version: これはいくらですか asks the price, 見ているだけです gets you politely left alone, 試着してもいいですか asks to try something on, and これください buys it. Four sentences, and they cover a startling proportion of every shop you will walk into.

What makes shopping worth its own guide is that it is usually the first genuinely two-way exchange a learner has in Japanese. Ordering food is one-directional — you say a thing, food arrives. In a shop you ask a question, a human answers with information you did not have, and you have to act on it. That is a real conversation with training wheels: short, low-stakes, and repeatable in the next shop along the street.

In this guide: why shopping first · the four core lines · asking the price · reading the tag · just looking · sizes and colours · counters · what staff say · paying · tax free · wrapping and returns · the bottom line

Why shopping is your first real two way exchange

Most beginner speaking happens in one direction. You memorise a line, deliver it, and the world responds with an object rather than with language. That feels like communication but trains only half the skill.

A shop breaks that pattern in the mildest possible way. You ask 他の色はありますか and the assistant says something back — maybe 白と黒がございます, maybe 申し訳ございません, ただいま品切れです — and now you have to parse a real sentence, produced at native speed, by someone who is not adjusting for you. That is the moment learners describe as the point Japanese "switched on".

It is also unusually forgiving. The topic is fixed and visible, so context carries most of the meaning. If you catch only 黒 out of a whole sentence, you still know black is available. Nothing bad happens if you misunderstand — you look at a shirt. And you can walk into the next shop and run the exchange again five minutes later, which is more repetitions than a language class gives you in a month.

One thing to prepare for: Japanese retail staff greet and approach much more actively than in most countries. いらっしゃいませ will be called out the moment you step through a door, and in clothing shops someone will often come over within a minute. That is service, not pressure, and it is exactly why the "just looking" line further down is the highest-value sentence on this page.

The four lines that carry a whole shop

Learn these before anything else. All four are polite register, so they are safe with anyone from a market stall to a department store counter.

• これはいくらですか (kore wa ikura desu ka) — "How much is this?" Point while you say it.
• 見ているだけです (mite iru dake desu) — "I am just looking." The polite decline.
• 試着してもいいですか (shichaku shite mo ii desu ka) — "May I try this on?" 〜てもいいですか is the general permission pattern, so it recycles everywhere: 写真を撮ってもいいですか (shashin o totte mo ii desu ka) — "may I take a photo?"
• これください (kore kudasai) — "I will take this." これをください with を is the fuller form; both are correct and the short one is what people say.

Add すみません (sumimasen) in front of any of them to get attention first, and ありがとうございます after the transaction, and you have a complete, polite shopping personality.

If the permission and request patterns behind these feel shaky, the te form guide covers how 〜てもいいですか and 〜てもらえますか are built, and the wa, ga, wo, ni, de particle guide explains why これは takes は here but これを takes を with ください.

How much is this and understanding the answer

Asking is easy. The hard half is the reply, because Japanese prices are said fast and Japanese numbers stack in units of ten thousand rather than a thousand.

The number trap is 万 (man), ten thousand. Japanese does not count in thousands past 9,999 — it counts in units of 万, so a five-figure price is said as "N man" plus the remainder. Get comfortable hearing 一万 (ichiman), 二万 (niman), 三万 (sanman) and you will stop losing the thread on anything expensive.

The replies you will hear at the till are formulaic: 〜円になります (~ en ni narimasu — "that comes to ~ yen"), 〜円でございます (~ en de gozaimasu — the same in formal dress), and 〜円お預かりします (~ en o-azukari shimasu — "I receive ~ yen from you") when you hand over cash. None of them require an answer beyond はい.

And when the number genuinely escapes you, the till display is right there. Looking at it is not cheating; it is what Japanese customers do.

Reading the price tag zeikomi versus zeinuki

This one catches every visitor at least once, and it is pure vocabulary rather than grammar.

Many tags print two numbers, a smaller one and a larger one. The larger is the tax-included figure and the one that matters. When only one unlabelled number appears, ask これは税込ですか (kore wa zeikomi desu ka) — "does this include tax?" — rather than doing arithmetic in your head at the counter.

Rates and labelling rules change over time, so the practical instruction is the same one that applies to every number in Japan: read the tag in front of you, not a figure you memorised from a blog.

Just looking the most useful line you will learn

If you take one sentence from this page, take this one.

• 見ているだけです (mite iru dake desu) — "I am just looking." Polite, neutral, complete.
• ちょっと見ているだけです (chotto mite iru dake desu) — softer, with the hedging ちょっと that Japanese uses constantly.
• 見てるだけです (miteru dake desu) — the casual contraction, い dropped. Fine with a young shop assistant, slightly too relaxed in a department store.
• 大丈夫です (daijōbu desu) — "I am fine." Shorter, extremely common, and does the same job for almost any polite decline.
• ありがとうございます、また来ます (arigatō gozaimasu, mata kimasu) — "thank you, I will come back." The graceful exit when you have taken up someone's time.

The grammar is worth ten seconds: だけ means "only, just", and it attaches straight to the plain form of the verb — 見ている + だけ + です. Swap the verb and the pattern travels: 待っているだけです (matte iru dake desu) — "I am just waiting."

What you are declining, usually, is 何かお探しですか (nanika o-sagashi desu ka — "are you looking for something?") or the more formal お探しのものはございますか. Both are opening offers of help. Answering with a smile and 見ているだけです ends the interaction cleanly and, importantly, without the assistant feeling brushed off — which is why the sentence is worth having rather than just walking away.

Trying it on sizes colours and stock

This is where the exchange gets genuinely two-way, because every one of these questions has an answer you need to understand.

A few things the phrases alone do not tell you. Japanese sizing generally runs smaller than US or European labelling, so an M is not necessarily your M — try things on rather than trusting the letter. Shoe sizes are given in centimetres, so you want to know your foot length rather than converting from a US number at the counter. And in many clothing shops there is a face cover (フェイスカバー) provided in the fitting room to keep makeup off garments — pulling it over your head before a top goes on is the expected etiquette.

Two more useful words: 試着 (shichaku) is trying on clothes specifically, while 試食 (shishoku) is a food sample in a supermarket or department store basement. They differ by one character and get mixed up constantly.

Counters that actually bite when shopping

Japanese counts different shapes with different words. Four cover almost all shopping, and one of them is an escape hatch.

Default to 〜つ. It is native, it works for almost anything up to nine, and no shop assistant in Japan has ever thought less of a customer for using it. これを二つください (kore o futatsu kudasai) — "two of these, please" — is a complete, correct, unremarkable sentence.

Three more you will meet on tags and in conversation rather than needing to produce: 〜着 (chaku) for suits and outer garments, 〜足 (soku) for pairs of shoes and socks, and 〜冊 (satsu) for books and magazines. Recognise them; do not stress about them. The same counters run through festival food stalls too, which our matsuri yatai ordering guide drills in a different setting.

What the shop staff says back to you

Here is the half that phrasebooks skip. Your side is short; theirs is long, fast and dressed in keigo. You do not need to produce any of this — you need to recognise it.

Your entire column reduces to five things: はい、お願いします, 大丈夫です, わかりました, ありがとうございます, and a small bow. That is genuinely enough to complete any purchase in Japan.

Two of those deserve a warning. 大丈夫です is ambiguous by design — it means both "yes, that is fine" and "no thank you", and Japanese speakers disambiguate by tone and gesture. Pair it with a small headshake when you mean no and a nod when you mean yes. And 袋はご利用ですか matters because shops charge for bags; if you have your own, 大丈夫です with a lifted tote answers it perfectly.

Paying cards cash and the little tray

• カードは使えますか (kādo wa tsukaemasu ka) — "can I use a card?" Ask before you get to the till in a small shop.
• 現金のみです (genkin nomi desu) — "cash only." You will read this on signs more than hear it.
• カードで払えますか (kādo de haraemasu ka) — an alternative phrasing of the same question.
• タッチ決済は使えますか (tatchi kessai wa tsukaemasu ka) — "do you take contactless?"
• 別々に払えますか (betsubetsu ni haraemasu ka) — "can we pay separately?"
• 細かいお金がありません (komakai okane ga arimasen) — "I do not have anything smaller." The idiom is 細かい, not 小さい. Useful when a stall cannot break a large note.
• レシートをください (reshīto o kudasai) — "please give me the receipt."

The tray on the counter is not decoration. Money goes in the tray, not into the assistant's hand, in both directions, and change is often counted back to you out loud. Take it with two hands if you want to look like you have done this before.

Two practical realities. Cards are near-universal in chains and department stores and still patchy in small independent shops, older restaurants and rural areas, so carrying some cash remains the default. And Japanese retail is heavily IC-card and QR based — Suica, PASMO and the various code-payment apps — so a shop that refuses your credit card may still take a tap.

Tax free shopping and what actually happens

免税 (menzei) means exempt from tax, and it is a real saving on a large purchase. Two different things share the word, and confusing them is the usual mistake.

In-town tax free is the consumption tax exemption at licensed shops, marked with a Tax-Free Shop logo you will see in department stores, electronics chains and drugstores. Airport duty free is the shop area after immigration, where alcohol and tobacco lose import duties as well. The phrases overlap; the mechanics do not.

How the in-town system works in shape:

• You must be a short-term foreign visitor, and you must have your passport with you at the moment of purchase. Coming back later with it does not work.
• There is a minimum spend per shop, per day, and the threshold is posted at the counter.
• Goods split into 一般物品 (ippan buppin — general goods such as clothing, bags, electronics) and 消耗品 (shōmōhin — consumables such as food, drink, cosmetics and medicine). Consumables are typically sealed in a bag you are not meant to open until you leave Japan.
• The purchase record is handled electronically rather than stapled into your passport as it once was, and customs may ask to see the goods when you depart.

Do not trust any specific figure here, including any you find elsewhere online. The thresholds and the procedure itself are being revised, and the direction of travel is toward paying tax at the shop and claiming it back at the airport rather than being exempted at the till. Ask at the counter, read the posted sign, and treat the description above as the shape rather than the fine print. The Japan National Tourism Organization maintains current visitor guidance and is a far better source than a blog for rules that move.

The lines themselves:

One airside caution worth knowing before you buy liquid souvenirs: sealed consumables bought in town cannot be opened before you leave, and liquids bought before security are subject to the usual carry-on rules, which is why airport shops sell them airside instead.

Gift wrapping returns and receipts

Japanese shops wrap beautifully and will offer to, especially in department stores and at anything remotely giftable. The question you will be asked is 贈り物ですか (okurimono desu ka) — "is it a gift?"

• 贈り物用に包んでください (okurimono-yō ni tsutsunde kudasai) — "please wrap it as a gift." 〜用 (yō) means "for the purpose of".
• プレゼント用でお願いします (purezento-yō de onegai shimasu) — the shorter, more common version.
• 分けて包んでもらえますか (wakete tsutsunde moraemasu ka) — "could you wrap them separately?" For several gifts in one purchase.
• 袋を分けてもらえますか (fukuro o wakete moraemasu ka) — "could you put them in separate bags?"
• 紙袋をもう一枚もらえますか (kamibukuro o mō ichimai moraemasu ka) — "could I have one more paper bag?" Note 枚, the flat-thing counter.
• そのままで大丈夫です (sono mama de daijōbu desu) — "as it is, is fine." Declining wrapping without fuss.

Returns are the other side of the same counter, and Japanese shops are generally strict rather than generous about them, so keep the receipt.

• 返品できますか (henpin dekimasu ka) — "can I return this?"
• 交換できますか (kōkan dekimasu ka) — "can I exchange this?"
• サイズを交換したいです (saizu o kōkan shitai desu) — "I would like to exchange it for a different size."
• 壊れていました (kowarete imashita) — "it was broken." The reason that gets the most cooperation.
• レシートはこれです (reshīto wa kore desu) — "here is the receipt."
• 領収書をください (ryōshūsho o kudasai) — "please give me a formal receipt." レシート is the till slip; 領収書 is the itemised receipt for expenses, and asking for one takes a minute at the counter.

Expect 未使用 (mishiyō, unused) and タグ付き (tagu-tsuki, tags still attached) to come up, because both are usually conditions of a return. Sale items are frequently marked 返品不可 (henpin fuka, no returns).

The bottom line

Four sentences open every shop: これはいくらですか, 見ているだけです, 試着してもいいですか, これください. Four more close it: カードは使えますか, 袋は大丈夫です, レシートをください, ありがとうございます.

Then add by situation. Clothes: 他の色はありますか, もっと大きいサイズはありますか, 試着室はどこですか. Anything expensive: 免税できますか plus your passport in your pocket. Gifts: プレゼント用でお願いします and 分けて包んでもらえますか. Reading the tag: 税込 is what you pay, 税抜 is not.

And practise the receiving half, not just the asking half. 何かお探しですか, 袋はご利用ですか and 〜円お預かりします are the three sentences most likely to arrive faster than you expected — and the answers are 見ているだけです, 大丈夫です and nothing at all.

For the situations either side of the shop, our hotel check in phrases guide handles front desks, ryokan and luggage storage, Japanese phrases for travel covers trains, restaurants and pharmacies, and daily Japanese conversation phrases supplies the greetings and reactions that hold all of it together. If asking is not the problem but freezing under a live reply is, how to stop freezing when speaking Japanese addresses that directly.

For reading practice in real sentences with furigana, NHK News Web Easy is free and short, and the Japan Foundation publishes learner materials built around communicative situations rather than grammar drills — which is the right shape for phrases you intend to use standing at a till.

🗣️ Ask the question, understand the answer, get corrected the same minute. Practise speaking Japanese free →

SoraSpeak is an independent Japanese speaking-practice app. Example sentences are written for learners; natural usage can vary by context and region.

FAQ