As somewhat of a food tourist, it’s always fun to see what you can find in the local markets and convenience stores, and I think this is more exciting in Japan than most countries, actually. Whether you go into a convenience store, market, vending machine, or just a restaurant or pastry shop, because of the language barrier, often times you have no idea what you’re really getting. The mystery is part of the fun. I loved seeing the local goods, but also got a rush from wondering “what is it?” or “what’s inside?”

The markets are packed full of product. Great candy aisles, amazing produce sections, lots of prepackaged goods and an abundance of prepared foods. There is so much for your eyes to feast on!

         

You can buy everything in vending machines – all the normal beverages , plus alcohol, cup of noodles, cigarettes, and so much more.

  

Japanese produce must be a source of a pride for the country and the people because they grow perfectly shaped, huge fruit, that tastes as if it’s been soaked in sugar. Look at the color on those peaches! Fruit is very expensive in Japan, so each bite is truly to be savored.

  

It’s not every day that you find bitter melon, as well as a section of shiso leaves, in your produce section. I love shiso and was so happy to be in a country where it’s flavor is a staple.

 

I question the people who though salad dressing in this packaging was the smartest choice

So here are some of the fun foods I found, and remembered to photograph before they were all gone…

Chocolate mint candy. The Kit Kat bites were good – and better than some of the other special kit kats that we had bought from the special kit kat store (apricot & ginger). These galbo mini candies had a malt-ball-like texture inside. No complaints here.

   

I couldn’t let this watermelon candy pass me by. Luckily the wrapper was a dead giveaway for the flavor, but what I thought might be kind of like a Now & Later ended up being a different consistency completely. It was somewhere between that of a Laffy Taffy and melty chocolate. A great bite – I’m glad I only bought one though because it could have gotten dangerous!

 

Matcha Cream Puff (And 1 hazelnut cream puff as well). Really good matcha cream filling. A nice little boost in the middle of a hot and humid afternoon.

 

You can find these balls of rice (for lack of a more official name) everywhere – some are filled with fish, others are peppered with other things, like this one which had sesame seeds, seaweed and some sort of pickled vegetable. I was a little bit chicken when it came to buying the ones with fish, because it was often times hard to know what kind of fish you were getting. I also hate mayo, and some of the ones with fish had mayo as well, so I figured I was safe if I went vegetarian.

 

Green Tea Canele from Sadaharu Aoki. This was the best green tea flavored pastry I had all trip – great flavor and amazing texture, it had it all. Oishi (read: delicious)!!

 

Peanut butter sandwich, sold in markets and convenience stores. The bread is sealed around the edges, there’s a cute little peanut embossed on the bread (not sure if it’s legible in the picture), and it’s filled with deliciously sweet PB. This felt more dessert than lunch sandwich to me, but such a great treat! Thanks to Logan for the hot tip on this.

  

Real Wasabi two ways. Root form, and freshly grated (in a circular motion on a special shark-skin covered board.

  

Custard square from Omotesando Koffee. I wish I found this earlier in the trip, because I would have gone back multiple times.

 

Red bean and Apricot Mochi. I had read about Ginza Akebono Mochi Shop and wanted to check it out. The mochi with a full strawberry in the middle was either sold out every time I went, or it wasn’t the season for it, hard to tell from the little English that was spoken. Either way, in place of the strawberry we found the apricot. This was probably my favorite treat of the trip…and we made a few trips back for more! Filled with typical red bean, and then topped with an apricot, this was such a great surprise every time you took a bite.

 

One afternoon we walked by this crazy looking wooden building exterior and decided we had to find out what was inside. It turns out this was a pineapple company, and the wooden exterior we guessed was meant to mimic that of a pineapple. We were brought upstairs for a free sample and this is what we found – tea and a prepackaged little cake. I wasn’t expecting much from this, but it turned out that it was a buttery little cake stuffed with stewed pineapple. The filling tasted like this dried baby pineapple that I love from Trader Joes. These cakes are exclusive to Japan…and they’re the perfect size for a midday treat.

  

On a sleepy Saturday, we went for breakfast burritos at 1 of the 2 Urth Cafes in the city and then stopped at the market on the way home. Beyond the checkout aisle is the pastry department of this market, and Josephine thought we should take a little looksy. Well, we ended up taking home 4 different pastries, and we had absolutely no shame in doing so. We weren’t totally sure what we had picked out, and for the most part there were surprises with each one…especially with the green pastry that we assumed was matcha, and ended up actually being honeydew-melon flavored! I don’t think I’ve ever had a bread item with the flavor of melon…and I kind of loved it!! One round pastry that looked like it could be similar to a cinnamon bun, actually ended up being a round croissant. The one with citrus on top was the most obvious – just a little bit of icing and the citrus topping. The last one, the one with black sesame seeds on top actually had a red-bean filling. I noticed afterwards that you can buy this type of pastry prepackaged in convenience stores as well. The red bean surprise inside was such a nice compliment to the sesame flavor!

     

I think you get the point here  – the mystery was half of the fun, but the food and the flavor was right there with it (or if I wanted to be cheesy I could say the flavor is one thing that doesn’t get lost in translation…thank you, and goodnight!).