One of the things I like to do while in a new country is go to the supermarkets and just wander around (and not just because I have no money to buy anything – but that’s also true).
Japan has everything you might expect it to have in it’s markets: copious amounts of rice, tofu, green tea, and fish. However, there’s plenty that you would never think to find in the Land of Rising Sun’s markets.
The following is but a small selection of the things I found to be interesting in Japanese supermarkets (as well as things that are not commonly found at supermarkets (in general) in the United States).
And before you find yourself saying, “Pfft, I see/eat that stuff all the time in the US”, please remember that you are not me and probably do not survive on tortillas, cheese, and beer (aka our experience at US supermarkets have been quite different).
Leave a comment and let me know what you think! (Or what I should try next.)
I love how everything is individually packed! Is it like this at most supermarkets? And non-alcoholic beer? An oxymoron if I ever seen one. Are they any good and how do you differentiate from the alcoholic ones?
4L of Whiskey!? Jesus H.
They should just sell casks.
Shrink-wrapping bananas and corn! what a marvelous use of limited fossil fuels. People of our generation are going to have a difficult time explaining to our grandchildren what happened to all the oil.
But hopefully said grandchildren shouldn’t have to know what oil is, right?
I love to walk through supermarkets in other countries! I usually find them to be smaller than what I am used to here in the U.S., without a lot of variety. For instance, two brands of peanut butter. I haven’t seen one that refrigerates eggs either. The pictures you provide makes me think this was a large supermarket you were able to browse. Ohhh and the Kit Kats are everywhere! No Hershey bars though. I did find them in a Malaysian airport for $3.00 a bar.
The supermarket is a good size and rivals markets in the US (however, it’s not quite as large). The aisles aren’t as tall and the carts aren’t as big, but the markets are all decently sized. However, if types of peanut butter is your yardstick, then the markets are disappointingly small 🙁
Loved looking through this, it was super interesting! Wish they sold chicken gizzards in England, I love cooking with them. Also very envious of the flavoured kit kats there. I guess I’ll have to be content with having cheaper melon and mangos here 🙂
There are actually a lot more flavors of Kit Kats – I’m a fan of strawberry cheesecake.
I lived in the city where lots of the Japanese flavours got made then exported, but they NEVER sold them in that city even though they got made there. (Strawberry cheesecake was one of them)