A Ministop sign is seen in this file photo. (Mainichi/Yukiko Murata)
OSAKA — “I shouldn’t have agreed so easily,” a man said as he expressed regret about his owner contracts with major Japanese convenience store chain Ministop after operating six stores in Osaka Prefecture and being demanded to pay more than 20 million yen (about $129,000) by the chain for his employees’ misconduct.
Ministop Co. was caught falsifying expiration dates on handmade rice balls and other products earlier this year. According to Taruhito Nakamura, the owner of two stores in Higashiosaka where the fraud was uncovered, he had been persuaded by the head office to take over the store operations. The 54-year-old Higashiosaka resident shared his feelings in an interview with the Mainichi Shimbun.
The misconduct at Ministop affected 25 stores in seven prefectures, and the operating company plans to terminate contracts with the involved owners. Nakamura is being asked to terminate contracts for all six of his stores and pay a penalty.
At his two stores where the fraud occurred, staff spent two to three hours at night making rice balls and other products, then issued and affixed expiration date labels all at once. These labels were supposed to be attached immediately after production. “I didn’t know about it. I left everything to the staff, so I apologize for my lack of supervision,” he commented.
A Ministop employee labels the handmade rice balls that the convenience store chain recently resumed selling, in Osaka’s Yodogawa Ward, Oct. 20, 2025. (Mainichi/Tatsu Shingu)
At another Ministop store in late June, a product was found with double-labeled expiration dates. An internal investigation revealed fraud at two of Nakamura’s stores as well. When he interviewed employees at the request of the head office, he discovered that the practice began around 2 1/2 years ago and in January this year, respectively.
The employees who initiated the fraud said, “It’s more efficient to issue labels all at once” and “I have always thought that since few customers come at night, products don’t sell well, and it’s a waste to discard them.” They shared the belief that they had not thought it would become such a big issue and had apparently passed this method on to other employees.
Penalty exceeds 20 million yen
As a result, the head office told Nakamura, “You need to manage things properly. You’re the one who affixed your seal to the contracts,” and informed him of their decision to terminate the contracts for the two fraudulent stores by the end of September and the remaining four stores by the end of October. They pressured him to sign a consent form. The contracts for the two fraudulent stores were terminated on Oct. 31, with penalties exceeding 20 million yen.
Taruhito Nakamura, owner of several Ministop convenience stores, is seen in Higashiosaka, Osaka Prefecture, Oct. 19, 2025. (Mainichi/Tatsu Shingu)
Nakamura, who has a wife and four children ranging from a lower grade in elementary school to high school, said, “I have little savings, and individual bankruptcy is my only option. But I can’t accept being treated the same as people who maliciously double-label products and being told to quit.” He continues to refuse to sign the consent form and is negotiating with the head office through a lawyer.
Originally from the western Japan city of Wakayama, Nakamura attended a university in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Thinking, “Being in the closest position to consumers may allow for an understanding of societal trends,” he joined a food supermarket in Tokyo. He gained experience at another supermarket and a major convenience store as a manager after changing jobs. After his father’s death in 2008, he returned to west Japan’s Kansai region and applied to become a Ministop store owner.
“The system was attractive because, compared to other major chains, you could become an owner with relatively little capital, even by yourself,” said Nakamura. He was entrusted with managing a new store in the city of Osaka in spring 2009 and another new one in Higashiosaka in autumn 2011. “Life wasn’t luxurious, but it was going well,” he recalled.
However, things took a turn for the worse in 2022, when he took over two stores in Sakai and Kishiwada. Both had low sales and apparently no one wanted to take over as an owner. “The person who came to ask me was the head office representative who had helped with my first store. It felt like fate, and they seemed genuinely troubled, so I took them on.” In 2024, he also took over two more stores in Kadoma and Higashiosaka.
Ministop employees arrange products, including handmade rice balls, that the convenience store chain recently resumed selling, in Osaka’s Yodogawa Ward, Oct. 20, 2025. (Mainichi/Tatsu Shingu)
Feeling the ‘slave contract’
Daily operations became much more challenging compared to before. He traveled between stores by private car, avoiding expressways with tolls to save costs, taking over an hour one way to the Kishiwada store from his home. The stores in Sakai and Kadoma faced a chronic shortage of staff, as employees did not stay long despite being trained. Nakamura stated, “The key to this business is how you nurture someone who can be the backbone. I worked the registers myself at both stores and spent most of my time there. The one in Kadoma is finally settling down.”
The six stores employ about 130 people in total. Each store has a chat group on the Line messaging app for communication, but when problems arise, he gets calls even late at night. He can only take a full day off once every two to three months. Family trips are limited to visiting a grave in his hometown Wakayama and combining it with a ranch visit. “Convenience store owner contracts are often called ‘slave contracts,’ and I feel that way,” Nakamura lamented.
Ministop’s store advisers assist owners and provide guidance. “In the past, it was mandated that each store be visited twice a week, but due to staff shortages, advisers are so busy that visiting once a week for three hours is the best they can do at some stores. I’m also busy, so there are times when I can’t meet advisers and they just leave messages, or I have to take photos of the product space and send them,” Nakamura pointed out.
To reduce the burden on stores in resuming sales of handmade products including rice balls, Ministop has cut the number of products from 70 to 23. They also plan to reduce the number of stores each adviser is responsible for. To prevent misconduct, they have introduced cameras that allow the head office to monitor kitchen operations and new label issuing machines. If anomalies are found in the number of labels issued, sales or waste data, an alert is sent to the head office.
Ministop Co. President Masashi Hotta, right, speaks in Osaka’s Yodogawa Ward, Oct. 20, 2025. (Mainichi/Tatsu Shingu)
At an explanatory meeting held in Osaka on Oct. 20, Ministop President Masashi Hotta announced plans to resume sales of handmade rice balls and such products at 63 stores by the end of October. “We will cook and shape the rice in-store. We are restarting with pride. We want customers to enjoy delicious rice balls,” he appealed.
The limits of the business model
Compared to the top three convenience store chains, Ministop lags in the number of domestic stores and sales per store. As of the end of August 2025, Ministop had 1,817 stores (a decrease of 39 from August the previous year), while the largest chain, 7-Eleven, had 21,787 stores (an increase of 169). The daily sales per store for Ministop were 440,000 yen (around $2,800), compared to 703,000 yen (approx. $4,500) for 7-Eleven.
Nakamura warns, “It’s clear that store advisers and head office employees are exhausted. The business model is reaching its limits.” For Ministop, which is weaker in “strength” compared to other major chains, the challenge is how to effectively utilize its limited management resources.
(Japanese original by Tatsu Shingu, Osaka Business News Department)
AloJapan.com