Feb 4, 2020
What's your go-to place for imported foods?
Not far from me, I have both Kaldi Coffee Farm and Jupiter which has lots of imported foods. Where do you go that's close to you? The things I'm looking for are cheeses, Italian, Thai, and Mexican specialties.
Best Answer
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on Feb 4
I have a Kaldi and Seijo Ishi reasonably close to me so they're really my "go to" options for imported foods here in Japan. Closer to home my main supermarket is a Seiyu. Now, as I understand things Seiyu is part of, or owned by, the Walmart group hence it has a random stock of a few bits and bobs from overseas -- mostly chocolate -- which includes (for any Brits reading this) one or two items from Asda (which is also owned by Walmart). Further afield and a friend of the partner is a member of Costco so maybe two or three times a year they go and get a stock of things from there -- Corona beers, proper granola, cookies, baked beans etc for me. I don't know the name of the store / corner but newer Aeon supermarkets and malls have an import shop which is pretty similar to Kaldi in appearance and stock - usually has some Mexican and Thai options. If I'm in town (i.e. central Tokyo), I might pop to a Don Quijote for some imported bits. Also, if we're at the Ikea in Funabashi we usually take the opportunity to get some of the meatball things that they sell there, and maybe some nice cookies. If you're in Tokyo, the supermarket in the basement of Tokyo Midtown (Roppongi) has a whole bunch of treats (including cheeses) but a premium prices that reflect the area / clientele.
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on Feb 4
When I lived right in central Tokyo it was a combination of Kinokuniya (lots of Mexican foods there!) and National Azabu in Hiroo. When I lived further out in Tokyo we had an Aeon mall close by which had both a Seijo Ishii and a Kaldi Coffee Farm. In Niigata there's a Jupiter in Nagaoka Station itself which has quite a bit of stuff, and often Amazon Japan has a few bits and pieces. Oh, and Costco is always worthwhile if you have one nearby!
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on Feb 5
One I forgot to mention in my response was the iHerb website. They ship to Japan for free if you spend over a certain amount, and I've bought everything from multivitamins to cereals, baking goods, flavored peanut butters and even canned soups from them. It's particularly helpful if anyone has intolerances or dietary requirements since they stock a lot of things which are gluten free, vegan, and so forth.
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on Feb 5
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on Feb 5
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on Feb 5
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on Feb 25
I live in brazil town so I shop at Takara Brazilian supermarket every week for cheese and certain imported goods. They also have some Thai things and random other imported stuff. Otherwise, I tend to go to kaldi, yaoko supermarket because it has imported items and Donki. The Donki near me in Ota might be special though because it has a whole Brazilian section as well as a lot of other country's imports. There is a large concentration of foreigners here and they cater to that.
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on Feb 25
@edthethe Oizumi Machi? Next time I’m in Gunma Prefecture, I’ll check out Takara. My Brazilian relatives introduced me to Feijoada and doce de leite, hard to come by elsewhere.
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on Feb 27
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on Mar 17
10 Answers