With the consumption tax rate rising from 8 percent to 10 percent Tuesday but with different rates for food and other daily items, consumers and store workers struggled to adjust.

Under a system intended to lighten the burden on low income households, tax rates for foods vary depending on where items are consumed. A meal eaten in a shop or restaurant is now taxed at 10 percent, but the rate remains at the previous 8 percent for takeout food.

"Since today is the first day, I became nervous trying to avoid making mistakes at the cash register," said Yumiko Hasegawa, a 67-year-old part-time worker at a Mos Burger outlet in Kawasaki.