Shopping!

One of the scariest best ways to learn about Japanese culture can be found via shopping. Food shopping, especially. While it's essentially the same as at home, there are some interesting differences between what you find at the supermarket here and what you'd find in a typical American store. On a recent foray into the wonders of the Japanese supermarket, my friend Gavin and I decided to have some fun and document the uniqueness of the items on display...

I'll start of with something simple, and safe. Fruit. It's incredibly expensive here (on average, one apple will cost you at least a dollar), yet also quite tasty, and incredibly large. Like this pear

Moving on from there, we wandered into the snack aisle. Along with the typical cookie and cracker options are the more traditional Japanese delicacies, like dried octopus, squid, and niboshi (small, dried fish).

Niboshi show up in my school lunches with a frightening frequency... I usually take the opportunity to make a "gift" of them to whoever happens to be lucky enough to sit next to me on that particular day (-_^)

From there we moved on to the refrigerated food section, where you can find a nice selection of seaweed

Bento (boxed lunches)

Sushi

And onigiri (rice balls)

I've actually become quite hooked on onigiri since I moved here. They're fairly cheap, and since you can find them virtually anywhere (supermarkets, convenience stores, tiny little shops tucked into alleyways...) they're super convenient. Actually, my favorite onigiri has a tasty seaweed and sesame seed filling (^o^)

Lest you should think that all food in Japanese cuisine is healthy, they also usually have a huge selection of pre-made fried food and tempura ready to take home

Moving over to the seafood section, you find delicacies like fresh squid

Niboshi

And one of my most hated school lunch additions (because there is just NO way to eat around it) are the chirasu boshi... teeny little fish they like to sprinkle on rice

And just for kicks... the cooked fish table


And should think that the biggest shopping surprises are reserved for the supermarket in this country, I'll throw in one bonus I found at the 100 yen shop

Yes, that is a syringe. A SYRINGE. At the dollar store! Will wonders never cease to amaze me...