I love Japanese food, and I love the way Japan has treated foreign food (ex: Japanese Italian food is amazing). Now, as a tourist, you really want to go out and eat all the good food you can, which ranges from the super touristy well-known spots and famous sushi and ramen (significantly cheaper than America!), to the more low-key local spots like izakayas or hole-in-the-wall katsu joints. Any non-Asian (and maybe non-Hawaiian) person would probably stop at every konbini and buy out all the cool and weird snacks and drinks. Even as someone who now lives here, that’s still the thought process, generally. It also doesn’t exactly help that ever other week there’s a new limited snack or campaign good that comes around, because Japan is all about that seasonal campaign.
Before I came to Japan, I had heard that it can be cheaper to eat out than actually cook at home because supposedly groceries were expensive and eating out can be pretty cheap. Well, obviously that’s not going to be an end-all piece of advice, depending on the groceries you buy and the places you go to eat. Personally, I do track my expenses, but we’re not here to talk about how I spend my money…I will say as a general statement and bottom line, is that if you do want to save money on food for other things, then just buy the groceries you need, or just be careful about the money you spend on food, in general. No brainer. I, on the other hand, would like to save money, but also enjoy even the small local treats I can get. I like food, and don’t entirely mind spending money on good food, as long as it isn’t extremely outrageous all the time.
In my day-to-day life, however, after traversing the aisles of my everyday stores, taking lots of pictures, and a few calculations, there’s always going to be a cheaper version / better deal for a food item that isn’t solely in one place, which is a little unfortunate. I mostly cook for myself, and eat school lunch at work. I go out once a weekend as a personal treat.
Buying Food
Groceries/The Supermarket: Groceries are relatively normal for me, with a heavy lean on Japanese products (hm, I wonder why), though my local grocery store does have an ‘ethnic’ section with sparse international ingredients. As someone with Chinese heritage, I much prefer Asian ingredients to more Western ones anyway, but once in a while my inner American craves something that isn’t exactly normal here, but I just have to deal with that. In the bigger cities, there might be actual ethnic grocery stores if that’s your thing and you’re desperate. Everything is generally smaller here, in terms of packaging and serving sizes, which does comparatively make most things seem more expensive. Is that my American upbringing/priviledge speaking?
The drugstore: I also feel a need to add this section . I’m not sure if it’s a Hokkaido thing, but my local drugstore, Sapporo Drugstore or Satsudora, is essentially half grocery store, without fresh produce or meats. Some things are cheaper there / a better deal than my local grocery store. Go figure. Honestly, the drugstore has everything you really need except for fresh produce and meats.
The convenience store: Konbinis, unlike America, are like the name suggests, convenient. There’s a little of everything you could want or need in there in a pinch, from clothing, to stationary, to snacks, to drinks, and even some produce. Generally though, except for the konbini specific brands and limited food, most of the general food products or big brands are going to be slightly more expensive than if you buy it in the grocery store, so it’s great if you are on the go and need something quick, but not entirely financially reliable to go all the time. Things can really add up if you go to a konbini for more than a few things…but, I have found a few items that are more worth it at the konbini than my local supermarket.
The 100 Yen store (aka the dollar store, like Daiso, Silk, etc): The dollar store won’t exactly replace your everyday groceries, but is the best place to first look for kitchen utensils for cheap. There’s also a decent selection of snacks, instant and dry foods, and seasonings.
Don Quijote (Sometimes I’m unsure how to romanize this): You might have heard of the infamous DonQihote, which, along with the other variety of weird goods they have, usually has a grocery store-esque section on the first or basement floor. That, and all the Japanese snacks.
Non-Japanese items: If you’re craving more Western items, you can try seeing if there’s an import store near you, like Jupiter. I also heard that Gyomu Supermarket tends to have some more foreign items as well, if you can find one near you. Aeon, maybe. Amazon might work, if you’re willing to pay a little more. iHerb Japan is also relatively reliable for foreign health foods or supplements. If you can somehow get or find someone with a Costco membership, I heard that’s pretty good too.
Nutrition
Speaking of food, learning to read is pretty useful. Not just menus, but everyday nutrition labels are a part of daily life, for some people, to different degrees.
- Calories will be listed first
- たんぱく質（たんぱくしつ/tanpakushitsu）: protein
- 脂質（ししつ/shishitsu）: fat [note that it won’t be devided into saturated and unsaturated]
- 炭水化物（たんすいかぶつ/tansuikabutsu）: carbohydrates
- 糖質（とうしつ/toushitsu）: sugar [sometimes won’t be included, but a lot of the times will]
- ナトリウム（natoriumu）: sodium [sometimes included]
- 食塩相当量（しょくえんとうそうりょう/shokuentousouryou）: table salt [sometimes included]
- 食物繊維（しょくもつせんい/shokumotsuseni）: fiber [often not included]
- There will also be a section on the food brand, type, ingredients, how much is in the package, how to store the food, and then how to contact the company.
- Labels here will also often include a small section on common allergens to warn you, and also if they’re processed in the same place as allergens. If that’s you, you should probably learn how to look for what you’re allergic for.
Expiration: If you see a date on your packaged food, you’ll see either 賞味期限（しょうみきげん）or 消費期限（しょうひきげん). What’s the difference? The former one is the “best by date”, or the best eaten by date for optimal freshness, supposedly. The latter one is “use by date”, or the warning that you shouldn’t eat it after that date. Whether or not you want to take risks is up to you.
At School
Kyushoku (aka school lunch): See my thoughts on kyushoku, or school lunch, here.
Restaurants
One thing I’ve noticed is that normal restaurants tend to open around 11 or 11:30, some even 12. Cafes don’t really open early, with the standard I’ve seen typically 10-10:30. You can sometimes find cafes or coffee shops open earlier, but that’s pretty rare. Also, non-chain restaurants tend to have a regular day-off in the week, so be aware of that if you want to eat somewhere.
If you’re ever bored and you’re a foodie, try browsing Google Maps. I find that fun in my free time…
Money
For a related topic (because everyone wants to save money), check out my post on money here.
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