How Many Locations Do US Chains Actually Have in Japan?
A mapped data study by US Food in Japan. Published September 14, 2026.
We built a map tool that plots every US fast food and restaurant chain location in Japan, and in the process ended up with something else: a real, geocoded dataset of 6,939 individual locations across 24 chains. So we pulled the numbers apart. McDonald's alone accounts for more than a third of every mapped location, and it has more locations than the #2 and #3 chains combined.
Top 6 US Chains in Japan, by Mapped Location Count
Individually geocoded locations mapped by US Food in Japan, as of September 2026. Hover or tap a bar for the exact share of all mapped locations.
| Chain | Mapped locations | Share of total |
|---|---|---|
| McDonald's | 2,602 | 37.5% |
| Starbucks | 1,480 | 21.3% |
| KFC | 814 | 11.7% |
| Domino's | 496 | 7.1% |
| Baskin Robbins | 379 | 5.5% |
| Denny's | 370 | 5.3% |
| Remaining 18 chains, combined | 798 | 11.5% |
McDonald's has more mapped locations than the #2 and #3 chains combined. Starbucks and KFC together add up to 2,294 mapped locations, still 308 short of McDonald's alone.
Six chains account for nearly 9 out of every 10 mapped locations. The other 18 chains we track, everything from Burger King down to Hooters' single Japan location, share the remaining 11.5%.
Starbucks is closer to McDonald's than most people assume. At 1,480 mapped locations it sits at 56.9% of McDonald's total, well ahead of KFC in third.
Why This Doesn't Match Every "Official" Count You'll See
If you've read our full location-count ranking, you'll notice the numbers there run higher (McDonald's at roughly 3,025, for example, versus 2,602 here). That's intentional, not an error, and the two pages are answering different questions. The ranking page cites each chain's own reported, published total. This page instead uses our own geocoded map data: individual locations we've actually plotted, one by one, point by point. It's a real, original dataset, not a copy of a press release, but it will always undercount slightly against official company totals, since new or rural locations take time to get mapped. See the methodology below for exactly how it's built.
Methodology
Source: OpenStreetMap point-of-interest data, the same dataset that powers the map search tool on USFoodInJapan.com. Each location is an individually geocoded point (a real store with coordinates), not an estimate.
Scope: 6,939 locations across 24 US-origin fast food and restaurant chains with at least one confirmed location in Japan, as cataloged on our complete chains list.
Date: Pulled and counted September 14, 2026. OpenStreetMap is refreshed on a regular cycle, so this dataset will drift over time, in both directions, as stores open, close, and get mapped or corrected.
Known limitation: Crowd-mapped data undercounts newer, smaller, or rural locations more than it undercounts flagship urban ones. Treat every number on this page as a real floor on each chain's footprint, not a ceiling. For company-reported totals instead, see our sourced location-count ranking.
Spot an error or a chain we should double-check? Email contact@usfoodinjapan.com.
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