How to make your own postcards using photos from your phone at 7-Eleven

Create your own personalised postcards for as little as 18 cents each at 7-Eleven convenience stores in Japan.

There’s something wonderful about the tradition of sending postcards during your travels, especially now when the business of keeping in touch is largely dominated by the online world. In Japan, you can make the experience even more special by creating a personalised postcard featuring a photo from your phone, thanks to a handy service available at 7-Eleven stores around the country. With these easy steps you’ll be able to turn your family photos and humorous poses into a unique souvenir of your own for just 20 to 60 yen (US$0.18-$0.55) each!

Step 1. Download the free app

The 7-Eleven Multicopy App (セブン-イレブンマルチコピー) can be downloaded here for IOS and here for Android devices. It takes no time at all to install but it’s best to do it before arriving at the store. It’s also handy to copy the photos you want to use into a special folder on your phone to avoid having to scroll through dozens of pictures when you’re at the copy machine.

Once you’ve installed the app, you’ll be able to print images from your phone as regular photos or as postcards, using the in-store machine.

Step 2. Press print

To start, press the green “print” (プリント) button on the touch panel screen.

Step 3. Select the “postcard” option

Next, press the “postcard print” はがきプリント button on the bottom right of the screen.

Step 4. Agree to the terms of use

You won’t be able to proceed without pressing the “agree” button on the bottom right.

Step 5. Select postcard type

Here you can indicate whether you’ll be using your own blank postcard pre-purchased from the post office (bottom button) or whether you would like the machine to provide you with one (top). Since we arrived empty-handed, we opted for the top option.

Step 6. Press Continue

To continue to the next screen, press the blue button at the bottom.

Step 7. Select the data transfer method

Here, you can opt to print from microSD cards or other storage devices. We used the quick Wi-fi option to transfer our data to the machine.

Step 7. Choose your device

Step 8. Open the app on your phone and send images to the copier

Now it’s time to take your phone out and bring the app into play.

Once the app opens, press the confirm button on the screen, followed by “print”, which is the top button on the following screen. From there, you’ll need to select “add” from the very top selection, and then the “add photos” option, which is also at the top of the next screen.