If you’re in Japan, you know what this means: searching stores for someone who carries turkeys (turkey? what’s a turkey?), wondering where you can get a can of mushroom soup for casserole, and trying to find an oven or baking alternative that can actually fit a dish you want to make.
Well, we can’t solve all your problems (especially not the oven one!), but we can help you out with some links to online stores that ship food from outside of Japan that you may not be able to find unless you live in a major metropolitan area. This can be especially handy if you want to plan holiday parties for foreigners and Japanese alike, or just introduce some American food to your Japanese friends.
Here’s a handful of sites people living in Japan can use to order food internationally:
Foreign Buyers’ Club
http://www.fbcusa.com/cs/index.php?main_page=index&language=en
The Flying Pig
http://www.theflyingpig.com/tfp/Shop.ASP
The Meat Guy
http://www.themeatguy.jp/app/en/
Tengu Natural Foods
http://store.alishan.jp/index.php?
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Unfortunately, I have never personally used these sites for ordering food (homestay has its perks!), but Leah at the Ishikawa JET blog has told me that the Flying Pig can special order items listed on the site that might not be in stock, and that both the Foreign Buyers’ Club Deli and Flying Pig use Kuroneko mailing services, so they’re very prompt (within 1 week), whereas the general store on FBC for the majority of items takes 2-4 weeks to ship.
Hope this helps! Happy eating and enjoy the holidays!
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Photo by gamene
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Also, check your local import stores and big groceries like Jusco and Aeon. I found canned pumpkin and cherries at a small import store as well as pie crusts! Ask your friends and shop around for the side dishes, the turkey is probably going to be an online thing.
Pie crusts! I would have killed to find those in Japan and make some quiche or a fruit pie. I’m fairly sure a friend of mine found a turkey *somewhere* last year, but he may have ordered it through Costco ahead of time. Thanks for the input! 🙂