Grocery Shopping in Japan

We just returned from a family trip to Japan. I love going to the grocery store there. I’m weird like that.

Ok, so let’s just be completely honest: I love grocery shopping. Period. Full stop. I know, I might be a freak, but I seriously love it. I especially love it when I go somewhere I can’t exactly read everything, and have no idea what things are half the time. Like in Japan.

Warning: Mediocre photos ahead. Clearly in my zeal to share these (iPhone) pictures, I’m not exactly going to win any photography contests. I know you’ll understand, and if you don’t well, *pffffft*.

Last month, we went back to Japan for a family wedding (I’m still sniffling at how beautiful it was.) We took advantage of being there, and extended our trip a bit so we could take in some sights, visit my husband’s favorite hot spring from childhood, eat, eat, eat, eat. Oh, and EAT.

Between bouts of sheer gluttony, there was shopping. Oh, and sightseeing. More on that another time…

Enter the utter joy of perusing the aisles of the local supermarket, and the department store. YES, department store. In Japan, lots of them have a grocery floor. Yes below women’s “furnishings”. And it is glorious. I mean…

Are you kidding me???

How could you NOT love to shop here???

Oh, and a bucket of tea is about $1.25. I mean, WHY would you drink soda (I think my home country could learn something from this, thank you VERY much.)

Then there were the aisles like this. Yes, they are filled with gluten. No, I didn’t care, they were just sitting there posing for me. Have you SEEN strawberry cake this gorgeous? Or, have you SEEN strawberry cake? Like EVER? Ok, then.

And, then a gluten-free section!! Yes, they do exist in Japan (I was becoming doubtful)… too bad I discovered this AFTER I had eaten half my weight in wheat filled noodles (hey, sometimes you gotta live).

And ok, ok, this was not so much a section as a small shelf. But I was sure happy to see it!

Though in this adorable shop, I’ll admit to just browsing. And wanting to cry, because I KNOW how good those are. Legend has it that the Japanese learned how to bake from the Portuguese. I have no idea if it’s true, but I’ve spent 20 years believing it was. And seriously, LOOK at this stuff!