A sailor walks into a Lawson convenience store near Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, Aug. 21, 2024. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)

TOKYO — Japan’s second largest convenience store chain, in a bid for more of the country’s tourist trade, recently asked its employees to wear badges indicating the languages they speak.

More than 3.1 million foreign travelers visited Japan in June, 9% more than the same month in 2019 and a new monthly record, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.

The country is also home to about 55,000 active-duty U.S. service members. Many, no doubt, stop at a convenience store for a snack, an umbrella or to use the ATM.

Accordingly, Lawson asked its multilingual workers to display their proficiency in any of seven languages — English, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Nepali.

“This will allow foreign travelers to receive services more comfortably without feeling a language barrier,” the company said in an Aug. 20 news release.

A Lawson convenience store clerk shows off a badge identifying himself as a speaker of the Nepali language. (Lawson Inc.)

Lawson cited data from the Japan Tourism Agency that 25.06 million foreign tourists visited Japan in 2023, about 6 ½ times those in the previous year.

“In light of this situation, it is urgent to strengthen multilingual support in stores that are mainly used by foreign visitors to Japan,” the Lawson release said.

The text on the foreign language badges is written in the indicated language, so foreign visitors can understand.

The staff may also wear badges indicating they are studying Japanese, a company spokesman told Stars and Stripes by phone Aug. 21.

“By clarifying the languages that store staff can speak, it will help reduce employee stress and misunderstandings and improve the working environment,” said the spokesman, who declined to be named per company policy.

The Lawson program is the first of its kind among the major convenience store chains in Japan and resulted from increase in foreign part-time employees at convenience stores, Japan Today reported Aug. 20.

Approximately 13% of Lawson employees are foreigners, according to the company release.

Around 10% of employees working for three of the major convenience store chains, Lawson, Seven-Eleven Japan Co. and FamilyMart Co., are foreign workers, according to Japan Today.

The company has no data on how many employees are wearing the badges since the practice was initiated this month, the spokesman said.