Photo by Nathan Cima on Unsplash
Daiso gets all the attention from foreign visitors, and for good reason — it’s huge, it’s everywhere, and it has become a bucket-list stop in its own right. But Daiso isn’t the only 100-yen shop chain in Japan, and the two runners-up, Can Do (キャンドゥ) and Watts (ワッツ), are worth seeking out if you want a different shopping experience, better odds of actually finding what you’re looking for without wading through three aisles of plastic storage boxes, or just a reason to duck into a shop you’ve never heard of.
Why Bother With a Second-Tier 100-Yen Chain?
Daiso’s size is also its weakness: the flagship stores in Harajuku or Shibuya can have 3,000+ items spread over several floors, and finding the one thing you want (say, a specific brush pen or a travel-size bottle) means circling the store twice. Can Do and Watts run much smaller footprints — often a single floor of 80–150 square meters — which makes them faster to browse and easier to actually finish shopping in. They also stock different private-label lines than Daiso, so the exact same budget (everything priced at 100 yen before tax, 110 yen with Japan’s 10% consumption tax) turns up different finds depending on which chain you walk into.
Can Do: The Convenience-Store-Sized Option
Can Do is the third-largest 100-yen chain by store count, with roughly 1,000 locations nationwide, and it was acquired in 2022 by Pan Pacific International Holdings — the same company behind the Don Quijote discount chain. That ownership shows: Can Do stores increasingly sit inside or next to Don Quijote outlets, and the product mix leans slightly more toward imported snacks, cosmetics, and novelty items than Daiso’s more utilitarian lineup.
Its real advantage for visitors is location. Can Do favors small footprints inside train stations, shopping mall basements, and dense city blocks — you’ll find branches tucked into stations around Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, and Ueno in Tokyo, as well as inside shopping complexes in Osaka and Nagoya. If you’re killing 15 minutes before a train and want cheap souvenirs, phone accessories, or snacks, a station-adjacent Can Do is often faster to reach than the nearest big-box Daiso. Typical opening hours run 10:00–21:00, though station branches sometimes open earlier (around 9:00) and close with the last trains.
Watts: Osaka’s Chain That Goes by Four Different Names
Watts is headquartered in Osaka and is the dominant 100-yen chain across Kansai and much of western Japan, though it has far fewer stores in Tokyo than Daiso or Can Do. What makes Watts confusing — and interesting — is that it operates under four separate storefront names: Watts, Silk (シルク), Meets (ミーツ), and Wattsdi, all owned by the same parent company and all selling the same roughly 100-yen inventory, just under different branding depending on the location and format. A “Silk” shop and a “Watts” shop a few train stops apart are the same company.
If you’re exploring Osaka’s shopping districts, keep an eye out for all four names. The Tenjinbashi-suji shopping arcade, Japan’s longest covered shopping street, is a good place to encounter a Watts-family store tucked between local produce stalls and clothing shops — it’s a useful contrast to the arcade’s more old-fashioned retailers, and a good spot to grab cheap snacks or travel odds and ends mid-walk. Watts stores tend to run slightly shorter hours than Can Do, often 10:00–20:00, so plan an afternoon visit rather than an evening one.
What’s Actually Worth Buying
At both chains, the baseline price is 110 yen tax-included, but don’t assume everything is that cheap — larger or higher-spec items (multi-packs, bigger storage containers, licensed character goods) are commonly priced at 220, 330, or 550 yen, still clearly marked but easy to miss if you’re grabbing items quickly. Good categories to check:
- Stationery — both chains carry basic brush-tip pens and calligraphy markers; if you want something more serious than the 100-yen version, see our guide to fude pens in Japan for where to step up in quality.
- Travel-size toiletries — genuinely useful for packing light, and a budget alternative to drugstore brands.
- Kitchen and bento accessories — chopstick cases, small sauce containers, bento dividers — all practical, all under 220 yen.
- Character and novelty goods — both chains stock small keychains and mascot items that overlap with the kind of collectibles covered in our piece on collecting Japanese phone straps from gacha machines and character shops, though the 100-yen shop versions are generally unlicensed knockoffs rather than official merchandise — fine for a cheap souvenir, not for a serious collection.
- Seasonal items — both chains rotate stock fast for Halloween, New Year, and summer festival seasons (fans, yukata accessories, seasonal snacks), so timing a visit around a Japanese holiday turns up items you won’t see the rest of the year.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
The biggest one is assuming every item is 100 yen — always check the small price tag, since specialty items (electronics accessories, larger ceramics, multi-item sets) often jump to 330 yen or more. Second, don’t expect English signage or English-speaking staff outside major tourist areas; both chains are aimed at the domestic market, so a translation app helps for reading labels on cosmetics or food items. Third, store hours vary more than you’d expect between branches of the same chain — a Can Do inside a train station may close earlier than one in a suburban shopping mall, so check hours with a map app before making a special trip. Finally, don’t expect tax-free shopping counters like you’d find at a larger retailer or department store; purchases here are small enough that the consumption tax exemption rarely applies, and most locations aren’t set up for it anyway.
Finding a Store
Neither chain has a strong English-language store locator, so the most reliable method is searching “キャンドゥ” (Can Do) or “ワッツ” (Watts) plus your neighborhood name in Google Maps, which reliably surfaces nearby branches with current hours and reviews. In Tokyo, Can Do is the easier of the two to stumble across; in Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe, Watts (or one of its Silk/Meets storefronts) is more common. If you’re combining shopping with sightseeing in Kansai, pairing a Watts stop with a walk through Tenjinbashi-suji or a day exploring Osaka’s downtown arcades makes for an easy, low-cost addition to the itinerary — no reservation, no admission fee, just cheap finds you likely won’t see back home.