Best Printers in Japan 2026: Canon vs Epson vs Brother

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Japan still runs on paper. School letters, ward-office forms, rental paperwork and, from November, New Year cards (nengajō) all come and go as A4 sheets and postcards, and a home printer is the easiest way to handle them. The catch is that these are Japan-market machines: the makers’ specs and manuals are in Japanese, power cords are for Japan’s 100 V and, for the Canon models below, Canon says the Wi-Fi is Japan-spec and cannot be used abroad. This guide compares six you can buy from Amazon Japan today, from ¥11,600 to ¥39,500.

We picked four Canon PIXUS and Giga Tank models, one Epson EcoTank and one Brother mono laser. Specs and running costs come from the makers’ Japanese spec pages; prices are the Amazon.co.jp offers listed on kakaku.com on 8 October 2026, plus the makers’ own shops (Epson’s shop price is dated 1 July 2026). It is the companion to our document scanner guide.

How to choose a printer in Japan

1. Cartridge inkjet, ink tank or laser

Cartridge inkjets such as Canon’s TS series are cheap to buy and costly to feed: Canon puts the ink in its TS5530 at about ¥10.5 per black-and-white A4 page and ¥22.3 per colour page with large cartridges. Ink-tank printers cost more but run far cheaper: about ¥0.5 and ¥1.0 per page for Canon’s G3390, and ¥0.4 and ¥1.0 for Epson’s EW-M638T. Brother’s mono laser costs about ¥3.5 per page in toner. These are the makers’ own test figures, for ink or toner only; paper and electricity are extra.

By our arithmetic from Amazon’s prices on 8 October, the G3390 costs ¥15,400 more than the TS5530 and pays that back through ink savings alone after roughly 1,500 black-and-white or 700 colour pages. A few pages a month: buy the cheap model. A family or home office: buy a tank.

2. Printing, copying and scanning

Every pick prints, copies and scans, but only the Canon TS6730 has an automatic document feeder (35 sheets). The others scan from the glass, one page at a time. If you scan a lot, a sheet-fed scanner is faster; see our document scanner guide.

3. Paper: A4, postcards and nengajō

Japan Post sells 2027 New Year cards (年賀はがき, nengajō) from 2 November 2026 at ¥85 each, in plain and inkjet-paper versions. It accepts them from 20 December, and its guideline for delivery on 1 January is to post them by 27 December. Buy the inkjet-paper version for an inkjet printer. Brother’s DCP-L2600DW is the exception among our picks: Brother says its tray takes only Japan Post’s ordinary postcards, not return, inkjet or private ones. Its page does not say whether plain New Year cards count, so check with Brother before you plan to print nengajō on it.

4. Wi-Fi, phone apps and the language of the screen

All six connect over Wi-Fi, and the makers’ phone apps list English on the App Store (Canon PRINT 22 languages, Epson Smart Panel 45, Brother Mobile Connect 21; checked 8 October 2026). We could not confirm whether the built-in screens of our six picks can be switched to English, so expect Japanese menus.

5. Voltage, region and leaving Japan

Canon says the Wi-Fi of all four Canon models here is Japan-spec and cannot be used abroad. The TS5530 is rated AC 100 V only; Canon rates the TS6730, TS7630 and G3390 at AC 100–240 V but says you must buy a local power cord. Epson rates the EW-M638T at AC 100–240 V but says the supplied power cord is for 100 V, and Brother lists the DCP-L2600DW at AC 100 V. Treat these as printers for use in Japan, and sell or recycle them when you leave.

The 6 best printers to buy in Japan in 2026

Specs are from the makers’ Japanese spec pages, and prices were checked on 8 October 2026. Sizes are width × depth × height. We show only an Amazon Japan button, because these are Japan-market printers.

1. Canon PIXUS TS6730 — best all-rounder for paperwork

Canon’s TS6730 is the only pick with an automatic document feeder (35 sheets of A4), so copying or scanning a multi-page letter, lease or school form does not mean lifting the lid for every page. It has four inks (three dye colours and a pigment black), a 2.7-inch colour touch screen, two 100-sheet paper sources and automatic two-sided printing on plain A4.

Canon’s shop charges ¥21,450; Amazon.co.jp listed it at ¥19,500 on 8 October. The catch is ink: about ¥21.3 per colour A4 page with large cartridges, so it suits light use. It is rated AC 100–240 V, but Canon says an overseas power cord is not included, and its Wi-Fi works only in Japan.

Ink: genuine Canon BC-386XL and BC-385XL.

2. Canon PIXUS TS5530 — best budget pick

The cheapest pick is also one of Canon’s newest entry models. The TS5530 has four inks, prints on both sides of plain A4 automatically, feeds from a 100-sheet front cassette and takes inkjet New Year postcards. It is compact: 374 × 355 × 168 mm, about 5.3 kg.

Canon’s shop charges ¥13,200; Amazon.co.jp listed it at ¥11,600 on 8 October. The trade-offs: a 1.42-inch black-and-white OLED display instead of a touch screen, a glass-only scanner, the highest ink cost of our cartridge models, and a rating of AC 100 V only.

Ink: genuine Canon BC-386XL and BC-395XL.

3. Canon PIXUS TS7630 — best for mixed documents and photos

Canon’s TS7630 uses five separate inks: pigment black for text, dye black for photos, and cyan, magenta and yellow. Canon prints an L-size borderless photo in about 16 seconds. Paper comes from a rear tray or a front cassette, 100 sheets each, and plain paper is printed on both sides automatically.

Running costs are lower than on the cheaper TS models: about ¥4.4 per black-and-white and ¥12.7 per colour A4 page with large cartridges, by Canon’s figures. Canon’s shop charges ¥23,650; Amazon.co.jp listed it at ¥21,500 on 8 October. There is no document feeder.

Ink: genuine Canon BCI-331XL and BCI-330XL.

4. Canon G3390 — best for heavy home printing

The G3390 is Canon’s Giga Tank model: you pour ink from bottles into big built-in tanks instead of buying cartridges. Canon says one set of bottles prints up to 6,000 black or 7,700 colour pages (its own measurement) at about ¥0.5 per black-and-white and ¥1.0 per colour A4 page. It has a tilting 2.7-inch touch screen, Wi-Fi and automatic two-sided printing.

The price is speed and size: 6.0 images per minute in colour and 11.0 in black-and-white, one 100-sheet rear tray and no document feeder. Canon’s shop charges ¥29,700; Amazon.co.jp listed it at ¥27,000 on 8 October. It is rated AC 100–240 V, but Canon says an overseas power cord is not included, and its Wi-Fi works only in Japan.

Ink: genuine Canon GI-31 bottles.

5. Epson EW-M638T — best for the lowest cost per page and a big paper tray

Epson’s EcoTank EW-M638T went on sale on 17 July 2025. It uses refillable bottles (three dye colours and a pigment black), and Epson puts the ink at about ¥0.4 per black-and-white and ¥1.0 per colour A4 page. The front cassette holds 250 sheets, speeds are 18.0 images per minute in black-and-white and 9.0 in colour, and two-sided printing is standard.

It is also the priciest pick: ¥43,450 including tax at Epson’s own shop, as of 1 July 2026, and ¥39,500 at Amazon.co.jp on 8 October. The scanner is glass-only. Epson rates the printer at AC 100–240 V, but says the supplied power cord is for 100 V.

Ink: Epson YAD-BK black and HAR-C, HAR-M, HAR-Y colour bottles.

6. Brother DCP-L2600DW — best for rare, black-and-white printing

Brother’s JUSTIO DCP-L2600DW is a black-and-white laser multifunction. It prints about 28 pages a minute, two-sided on plain A4, from a 250-sheet tray, over Wi-Fi on 2.4 and 5 GHz or by USB. Brother’s toner figure is about ¥3.5 per page with its super-large TN32JXXL cartridge (about 5,000 pages), or about ¥4.3 including the drum unit, at Brother Direct Club prices for October 2026.

Amazon.co.jp listed it at ¥12,118 on 8 October; Brother sells it at an open price. It weighs 10.1 kg with consumables, has no document feeder, and Brother provides no macOS driver, so Mac users print and scan through AirPrint. Its tray takes only Japan Post’s ordinary postcards.

Toner: Brother TN32JXXL.

Comparison table

* The makers’ test figures for ink or toner only (Canon: large cartridges; Brother: Brother Direct Club prices, Oct 2026). Paper and electricity are extra. Weights: Epson without consumables, Brother with consumables. ** Amazon.co.jp offers listed on kakaku.com, 8 October 2026, incl. tax.

Konbini or your own printer, nengajō, and when to buy

Konbini copying is as cheap as the cheapest inkjet

Seven-Eleven’s multi-copy machines list copying at ¥10 per black-and-white A4 page and ¥50 per colour page, about what the TS5530’s ink costs per black-and-white page (¥10.5). A printer saves you the walk, not the money, unless you choose a tank or laser model. Print a few times a year: use the konbini. Print weekly: own a printer.

Timing: Prime Kanshasai, new Epson models and nengajō

Amazon.co.jp’s Prime Kanshasai (プライム感謝祭) has a pre-sale on 13–15 October and the main sale on 16–19 October, for Prime members; its point-up campaign needs an entry. We do not know which printers will be discounted, so wish-list the ones you like now (see our sale calendar). Epson’s new A4 Colorio printers (EP-889A, EP-819A, EP-719A and EW-559A) were announced on 1 October but are due on sale on 29 October, so we did not include an Epson cartridge printer. Japan Post’s New Year cards go on sale on 2 November (see our New Year guide).

Use genuine ink, and keep a spare set

Canon says it charges for repairs caused by non-genuine or refilled cartridges even during the warranty period, and recommends using ink within six months of opening. Its first ink set partly fills the printer, so it prints fewer pages than a replacement, and its spec pages note that colour ink may be used even when you print in black-and-white, and that an empty cartridge of any colour has to be replaced, so keep a spare set.

Frequently asked questions

Can I take a printer bought in Japan to another country?

Not safely. Canon says the Wi-Fi interface of its PIXUS and Giga Tank models is Japan-spec and cannot be used abroad. The Canon TS5530 is rated AC 100 V only, and Canon says the TS6730, TS7630 and G3390 need a local power cord. Epson supplies a 100 V cord with the EW-M638T, and Brother lists the DCP-L2600DW at AC 100 V.

Is an inkjet, an ink tank or a laser printer better for me?

It depends on how much you print. By the makers’ figures, the TS5530 costs about ¥10.5 in ink per black-and-white page, the Brother laser about ¥3.5 in toner and the Canon and Epson tanks about ¥0.4–1.0. By our arithmetic the G3390 repays its ¥15,400 premium over the TS5530 after roughly 1,500 black-and-white or 700 colour pages. A few pages a month: cheap inkjet. A family or home office: tank. Black-and-white only, in bursts: laser.

Which postcards do I need for nengajō, and when are they sold?

Japan Post sells 2027 New Year cards from 2 November 2026 at ¥85 each, in plain and inkjet-paper versions, until 15 January 2027. Buy the inkjet-paper version for an inkjet printer; Brother says the DCP-L2600DW takes only Japan Post’s ordinary postcards, not inkjet, return or private ones, and Brother does not say whether plain New Year cards count, so check before printing them on it. Japan Post accepts New Year cards from 20 December, and its guideline for delivery on 1 January is to post them by 27 December.

Is it cheaper to use a konbini than to own a printer?

For a few pages a year, yes. Seven-Eleven lists copying at ¥10 per black-and-white A4 page and ¥50 per colour page, about the ink cost per black-and-white page of the Canon TS5530 (¥10.5). A tank printer at about ¥1 of ink per colour page, or a laser at about ¥3.5 of toner per page, costs far less to run if you print regularly, although you still pay for the machine and paper.

Can I print from my phone, and is the app in English?

Yes: the makers’ phone apps list English on the App Store (Canon PRINT 22 languages, Epson Smart Panel 45, Brother Mobile Connect 21; checked 8 October 2026). Check that your model is on the app’s supported list. We could not confirm whether the printers’ own screens can be switched to English, so expect Japanese menus.

The short version

For paperwork, buy the Canon PIXUS TS6730 (¥19,500 at Amazon.co.jp) with its 35-sheet document feeder. On a budget, the TS5530 (¥11,600). For photos and documents, the TS7630 (¥21,500). If you print every week, the Canon G3390 at ¥27,000, or the Epson EW-M638T at ¥39,500, costs about ¥1 of ink per colour page. For black-and-white pages, the Brother DCP-L2600DW laser (¥12,118). Treat all of them as Japan-only printers: 100 V, and Canon’s Wi-Fi works only in Japan.

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