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[timothypfox]

Ok this is a post about food! I'm now likely here long-term now, but even if you're not - I thought it might be fun to share solutions you've come up with culinary needs you have trouble satisfying in Japan. Having said, I do love the food here - but pizza is just not the same as back home, and how come there are no places to get bagels or Tex-Mex food! Or, how about Western style take out Chinese food?

Well to get this rolling, I'll share what I've discovered so far. I'm based near Kirishima near Kagoshima, so my observations should work for most parts of Japan.

Bagels
My last home, New York City, abounded in them. You could literally take a breath on any street corner and smell bagels.

Bagels are quite a bit less common here. To find them, dig around local bakeries... You are likely to find one that make them, and sells them more expensively individually. My local Yamakataya bakery sells them, and they seem to sell out fast. There is also a discount restaurant supplier grocery store that keeps prices down by stocking imported food. Mysteriously they occassionally stock frozen bagels.

Cheese
The variety and quantity are lacking in a typical grocery store here. A food area in a larger department store will usually stock more. In this case, I need to drive an hour into Kagoshima city and hit the import section of the store. The AZET near me (something like a Japanese version of Wallmart) has cheese as well.

Cream cheese for your bagels is easy to find at any grocery store. It will take a little more digging to find smoked salmon, but many grocery stores have it. Just look around.

Pizza
I'm still searching!

Indian Food
There are a lot of nice Indian restaurants in Japan. It may be a little harder to find the ingredients to make it yourself, however....

Italian Food
For goodness sakes! Convenience stores do not offer top quality spaghetti! In Japan, it is pretty easy to buy and make good pasta yourself. If you develop a taste for terako spaghetti there are many places to enjoy it out, and usually some reasonable carbonera pasta at many restaurants.

Tex-Mex
I need help on this one! The Mexican restaurants I tried in Kagoshima city were very poor. It is extremely hard to locate beans here.

Western Style Take Out Chinese Food
I never thought of Chinese food as fine dining until I spent time in the Chinatown area of New York. It seems to be by and large much more authentic in Japan than what I normally thought was Chinese food in North America. So, where do I get the nice stir fry with tofu and cashew nuts and chicken over rice? Help me out here! Would certainly be easy enough to find the ingredients here, however.

Hummous
Can you get gabonzo (chick peas) beans in Japan?

Vegi Drinks
So you're used to slirping up freshly mulched vegi drinks? There are not too many places for that - but I did find a cafe called Mama's cafe on the way to Kanoya Rose Garden that does just that. What you can find easily nice vegetable/fruit mixed drinks. These are the kind of drinks that health food stores in a US city would charge you $12 dollars for a carton. But, here you can buy them at a convenience store or grocery store for around 400 yen. Call it a compromise maybe?

So, any advice on tex-mex, take out western style Chinese food, and hummous?

Or, maybe you have a hanking for another food you've managed to find.

Please add and add to the guide! We'd all appreciate your help! :

[timothypfox]

Tim,
Your contributions and observations are rather astute - but there are those - probably many - who would counter your claim that you can't get good Japanese pizza here. Have a look: http://japanese.lingualift.com/blog/japanese-pizza/

Best,
Tim

[timothypfox]

Tim,
I never said I didn't like Japanese pizza! I just was writing this whole post to find out ways to have foods the way we have them back in our home countries because we might miss the way they are prepared there!

In haste,
Tim

[timothypfox]

Oh okay. Thanks for clarifying. Now we can get back to the point of this thread again!

[TokyoLiz]

[OneJoelFifty]

[timothypfox]

Thanks for the tips on Chickpeas (hiyoko mame)! I will keep my eyes peeled for them at an import store (and perhaps have a look around AZET for them)...