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In fiscal year 2023, the total number of pharmacies in Japan amounted to around thousand stores, increasing slightly compared to around thousand stores in the previous year. The growth followed an upward trend in the past decade, as the number of stores increased year on year since 2014. 

Most popular drugstore in Japan

Matsumoto Kiyoshi was the most well-known and most popular drugstore brand in Japan, as revealed in a survey from January 2021, with most respondents claiming to know and have visited the Japanese drugstore chain. Japan’s largest drugstore chain, Matsumoto Kiyoshi, was founded in 1932 in Matsudo, Chiba prefecture.

Availability of pharmacies in Japan 

was the prefecture with the highest density of pharmacies in Japan. In contrast, Okinawa showed the lowest density of pharmacies among other prefectures. Furthermore, it is worth noting that significantly more drugstores per capita were available in Saga prefecture than in the nation’s capital, Tokyo.