Uber Eats Japan expands to 22 regional cities

A green Uber Eats deliver robot in Osaka

Uber Eats Japan is expanding its delivery services to 22 new cities across 10 prefectures in Japan during March 2025.

This expansion marks a significant step in Uber Eats’ strategy to broaden its reach beyond major urban centers and into regional cities.

Since its nationwide service launch in September 2021, covering all 47 prefectures, Uber Eats has primarily focused on metropolitan areas.

A Japanese man and woman eating bento meals. — Recent Uber Eats Japan commercials featured Riisa Naka and Akiyoshi Nakao

The current expansion initiative aims to make the service more accessible to a larger part of each prefecture including smaller cities.

The company has publicly stated that it plans to launch services in over 100 new cities by the end of 2025.

In addition to expanding its delivery area, Uber Eats Japan is introducing enhanced takeout options nationwide in April 2025.

This initiative will allow customers to place takeout orders at select restaurants for in-store prices, providing a cost-effective alternative to delivery.

A screenshot of the Uber Eats Japan app — The enhanced takeout options will shortly become available in the Uber Eats Japan app

The company anticipates that by the end of 2025, approximately 15,000 restaurants will participate in this new program.

As with normal orders, the enhanced takeout service will allow customers to search nearby restaurants offering takeout and place orders through the app with payment will be processed through the user’s saved payment method and see the Uber Eats app provide estimated pickup times for takeout orders.

Uber Eats Japan will be expanding their operating areas over the next two weeks:

Monday, March 10, 2025:
- Okayama Prefecture: Kurashiki City (service area significantly expanded).
- Hiroshima Prefecture: Fukuyama City (service area significantly expanded), Mihara City, Onomichi City.
- Yamaguchi Prefecture: Iwakuni City, Shunan City, Kudamatsu City.
- Ehime Prefecture: Imabari City, Niihama City.
- Okinawa Prefecture: Nago City, Uruma City (service area significantly expanded).
Monday, March 17, 2025:
- Shizuoka Prefecture: Fujinomiya City, Kakegawa City, Yaizu City, Fujieda City, Shimada City.
- Nagasaki Prefecture: Isahaya City.
- Oita Prefecture: Oita City (service area significantly expanded).
- Kumamoto Prefecture: Yatsushiro City.
- Kagoshima Prefecture: Kagoshima City (service area significantly expanded), Kanoya City, Kirishima City.

Uber Eats was first established in Toronto, Canada, in 2015, and now operates in over 10,000 cities globally. The service launched in Japan in September 2016 and expanded to cover major metropolitan areas in all 47 prefectures.

Uber Eats has over 120,000 active participating stores and 100,000 active delivery partners in Japan. This is expected to grow further due to their expansion into regional cities and the introduction of the new enhanced takeout options.

Source: PR Times