The other day I went to the store... and took a picture of myself for some reason. I got this new eco-bag I was using. A lot of grocery stores in Japan charge you for plastic bags to encourage you to bring your own. Yuppppp...
It depends on the grocery store, but most of them don't give out free bags anymore. They charge about 5 yen per bag, so it's not too expensive. If you go frequently, though, it makes sense to bring your own bags. But most other stores like convenience stores and clothes stores will still give you bags.
Yeah my family in the US uses them for the same thing. Here in Japan I also use them as trash bags. I still get them from convenience stores even if I don't often get them at grocery stores.