Went to my first Japanese grocery store today

**Pacman** · #1 07-31-2008, 12:40 AM

Holy crap! We're doing it wrong in the states! Fresh sushi, tempura, yakitori....clean, neat - and friendly!

I love this place.

Maki, I'll take pics, but you know....

Captain Chaos · #2 07-31-2008, 12:53 AM

I want to visit Japan sometime.

HEIST · #3 07-31-2008, 12:55 AM

It's like this in pretty much all of asia. It's awesome. My favourite thing to do when I lived in Taiwan was to walk one block to the closest convinience store and buy beer, pudding, and milk tea.

Kyon` · #4 07-31-2008, 04:04 AM

Heh back when I was working near downtown I would always end up going to a Japanese super market to get some UCC Canned Coffee and two rice balls of whatever the yhad that day. It was only about $3.60ish and I had a fulfilling lunch, sometimes I would switch the drunk out for others but that was it.

**Pacman** · #5 07-31-2008, 05:02 AM

Friends took us out to eat sushi tonight (me and my daughter). I can't believe how reasonable that was! For the second most expensive city in the world, I was pretty impressed!

God, this is going to be great!

Akami · #6 07-31-2008, 05:23 AM

I used to live across the parking lot from Maruetsu.

Every night about 8:30 or so I head over to buy the reduced price sushi and other food items which they have to sell out of daily.

Joe Gress · #7 07-31-2008, 07:28 AM

Jon-How long are you going to be there?

DigMe · #8 07-31-2008, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HEIST

It's like this in pretty much all of asia. It's awesome. My favourite thing to do when I lived in Taiwan was to walk one block to the closest convinience store and buy beer, pudding, and milk tea.

If you think it's like that in pretty much all of Asia then I'm guessing you haven't done much traveling around mainland China? Not always clean, neat and fresh there...except maybe in the grocery stores that cater to foreigners in the big cities.

bc

scottice · #9 07-31-2008, 08:20 AM

We have Uwajamaya here.
It's the closest thing to heaven as far as supermarkets go....

DigMe · #10 07-31-2008, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joeinsprings

Jon-How long are you going to be there?

Yeah...are you living there? I guess I missed the thread! You're going to have a blast.. I was bummed that we couldn't travel to Asia this year.

bc

Mark Latimour · #11 07-31-2008, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DigMe

Yeah...are you living there? I guess I missed the thread! You're going to have a blast.. I was bummed that we couldn't travel to Asia this year.

bc

IIRC he has moved there on an Army posting.

MakiSupaStar · #12 07-31-2008, 08:46 AM

ah yes. Little do you know your food adventures have only just begun. Not only is it reasonable but it's some of the tastiest stuff on the planet. The Japanese love food. Wait until you get invited to family's home for dinner. If they serve their homemade curry you are done for. Have fun.

afinalfantasy · #13 07-31-2008, 09:39 AM

I love Asian food. I'm going to Toronto in a couple weeks to one of the Asian malls there. Good stuff at good prices

Arsenal_Fierce · #14 07-31-2008, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Akami

Every night about 8:30 or so I head over to buy the reduced price sushi and other food items which they have to sell out of daily.

This is a good trick to keep in mind: if you go shopping later in the day/evening, all the sushi and bento will be marked down. In my little town, things were marked down by 7:00 (practically everything was closed by 8). Might be a bit later living in an actual city, though.

I still get some sticker shock on Japanese food here in the States. I'm used to paying 50 cents for a block of tofu, so when I go to the grocery stores here and they're asking $2,

Marcus · #15 07-31-2008, 10:28 AM

Head out to the Chinatown in Yokohama for some awesome food!

Akami · #16 07-31-2008, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arsenal_Fierce

This is a good trick to keep in mind: if you go shopping later in the day/evening, all the sushi and bento will be marked down. In my little town, things were marked down by 7:00 (practically everything was closed by 8). Might be a bit later living in an actual city, though.

I still get some sticker shock on Japanese food here in the States. I'm used to paying 50 cents for a block of tofu, so when I go to the grocery stores here and they're asking $2,

I was living near Okegawa, north of Omiya, Saitama and if I caught the train to Okegawa there was a Mine store where they had an even better selection. Daily specials on produce and always whole roasted chickens, which were just right for making dinner for 2, plus a little sandwich meat leftover.

Where were you living? I cover a good portion of the country between Iwate and Kyushu every year and am really looking forward to being there for about 3 months this next time!

Always interested in hearing about new interesting places/food too.

Pacman, assuming you're in the Tokyo area, a couple stores you might want to go check out are the Seijo Ishii chain. The easiest one to find is on the upper level of the Ebisu station (next to Shibuya) where they have a shopping mall.

You already know about Ochanomizu for music stores, but definitely go to Shibuya, Shinjuku and Ikebukuro too. Great selection of boutique bass gear in Shibuya.

Arsenal_Fierce · #17 07-31-2008, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Akami

Where were you living? I cover a good portion of the country between Iwate and Kyushu every year and am really looking forward to being there for about 3 months this next time!

Always interested in hearing about new interesting places/food too.

I lived in Mihama, a small town in Mie prefecture near the Wakayama border, right on the Pacific. Our most distinguishing features are year-round mikan harvesting and the fact that several paths of the Kumano Kodo run through it. If you click on the link, Mihama falls between Kumano and Shingu on the little map

Food-wise, in addition to mikan, the area's known for sanma-zushi (I forget what sanma is in English, but it's a type of fish) and mehari-zushi (sushi rice wrapped in a seasoned leaf, think dolmas).

**Pacman** · #18 07-31-2008, 04:43 PM

Joe - I'm here for 3 years. I'm stationed with the Air Force, living on Yokota AB, in Fussa-shi.

I think the grocery store we went to was Jusco (?). I've been here for about 3 days, and can tell this is going to be a ball. We went to a sushi place last night (with the conveyor belts) and I had my first fried squid! Awesome! I can't believe how cheap sushi is!

Joe Gress · #19 07-31-2008, 04:47 PM

Whoa! That sounds sweet. The 10 day trip that I took has me convinced I could cope with living there one day.

What do you think of Japanese hospitality so far?

**Pacman** · #20 07-31-2008, 04:49 PM

they're the nicest people I've ever run across. as long as you're making an effort, they bend over backwards for you! really cool