Whether I’m in the mood for Japanese Pocky sticks, searching for mochi ingredients or looking for quality miso paste, Japanese supermarkets are always in my repertoire of supermarkets.



These were my favourite Japanese markets in Vancouver, BC, Canada:
  •   Fujiya Japanese Foods (Vancouver, BC)
  •   Konbiniya Japanese Centre (downtown Vancouver, BC)

Japanese supermarkets down in Silicon Valley:
  •   Marukai (Cupertino, CA)
  •   Mitsuwa Marketplace (San Jose, CA)
  •   Nijiya Market (Mountain View, San Jose and San Francisco’s Japantown)
  •   Super Mira Market (San Francisco’s Japantown)

Some of these Japanese supermarkets are more than just markets …

Fujiya Japanese Foods has a restaurant in south Burnaby, BC, Canada that serves Japanese home-style lunch and dinners (think bento boxes and noodles, not sushi).
Hi Genki Japanese Restaurant is located on the ground floor of Nikkei Home, beside the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre. Although Hi Genki‘s customers are largely visiting family to family members living in Nikkei Home (a Japanese seniors’ home), the cafeteria-style restaurant is open to the public for lunch and dinner.

Apart from the usual grocery items, both Marukai and Mitsuwa Marketplace in Silicon Valley have a great selection of fresh fish, sashimi-grade seafood, pre-made/packaged bento boxes and sushi rolls, and meats for shabu-shabu or sukiyaki. If you want to splurge on meats, bring home some Japanese kobe beef.

Mitsuwa Marketplace also has some extra highlights inside its grocery store:
  •   J.Sweets – for delectable Japanese sweets and confectionery
  •   Kinokuniya Book Store – for Japanese stationery and books (fiction, non-fiction, recipe books, anime)
  •   Lupicia Fresh Tea – specialty tea shop
  •   MochiCream – for ice cream mochi
  •   Miyabitei Japanese Restaurant – for delicious udon
  •   Santouka Ramen – for good ramen (see post “Japanese Ramen … Comfort Food”)
  •   Niitakaya – for pickles