Cultural Insights

I don’t know about you but one of my favourite things to do in another country is to stroll through their supermarkets. A supermarket really says a lot about a country and its people with the range of food available, the convenience items as well as the prices of items. I wanted to discover what constituted a Japanese supermarket. Bounding down the stairs to get out of the humidity of Tokyo, a rush of cold air hit me in the face and instantly, I felt better.

I turned the corner and a supermarket was laid out before me. Similar to those back in Australia, aisles sorted by category neatly paved the way. From laundry products to groceries, dry foods to sweets, alcohol to drinks to ready-made meals, so much was on offer in this underground refrigerator. Passing through the aisles, I stopped at the chocolate section, hey, I’m not ashamed, and was tempted by the collection of different chocolate, covered in Japanese that I could barely read. Pulling myself away, this time, I passed the tea section and pulled out an assortment of fruit teas. The yellow, rectangular box had images of six different fruits teas, ‘Apple Tea’, ‘White Wine & La France Tea’, ‘Manga & Orange Tea’, ‘Peach & Lychee Tea’, ‘Lemon Tea’ and ‘Blueberry & Raspberry Tea’. “Perfect for my brother”, I thought.

Finally, I approached the best part. No, not the alcohol as you thought, but the pre-made food and this is what really separates Japanese grocery stores from others around the world. Similar to convenience stores, this supermarket, like most others in Japan, had ready-made meals and side dishes to choose from. What more could you ask for? Sushi, bento, salads, vegetables, rice dishes, onigiri, soups, western dishes, I could go on and on. The amazing thing about supermarkets rather than convenience stores, the konbini, is that, due to competition, they usually make these foods in store to maximise freshness. Like the konbini, they also mark down their pre-made foods after lunch and towards the end of the day as they lose this freshness which is a great way to snap up a delicious and cheap meal. A great selection of sweets and bakery goods were also available to try out.

Weaving around the registers, you can either attempt to use their self-serve machines, which I wish I’d tried because I used to work in a retail company and often worked in the self-serve area, or you can walk around to the assisted checkouts and wait your turn. There will be a rack of plastic bags, the small one on top being free, and once paid for, the cashier transfers everything into a yellow basket, to indicate that it’s all been paid for, and you are directed to a table to the side where you pack your own items. I’d never seen or experienced something like that before as in Australia, if you bring your own bag, the cashier still packs your bag for you so that was an interesting experience. As I only purchased one item, the lady kindly packed my bag for me and didn’t bother with a yellow basket. Whether this was because I only had one item or because I was a foreigner, I don’t know.

Seiyu is one of the biggest supermarkets in Japan and if you’d like an idea of the prices and range of products they offer, they have an online store to browse through with the translate add on being your best friend. Other large companies include Aeon, Maruetsu and Ito Yokado. Bear in mind that supermarkets are hard to find in large cities such as Tokyo so you may have to go a bit into the suburbs to find some. They’ll have a much wider variety though and it gives you a different side to Tokyo too.

Even if you’re not settling down and trying to acclimate to Japan and its culture and language, discovering new products to try, whether you’ve translated and know what you’re buying or have decided to try your luck at what you thought something was, exploring another country’s supermarket is a great experience. Regardless of whether it’s Japan or some other country, make sure you locate a supermarket in your area.