nihonhacks.com » Japanese Services

Amazon.co.jp ships to konbinis

thomas — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:37:10 +0000

Adora sends in this tip:

You can also arrange to pick up your package from Amazon.co.jp at conbini too! (You know… for purchases you don’t want your family to know about…)

I didn’t know that! This is good to know with Christmas right around the corner.

Thanks adora!

Does anybody know if its ok to ship any online orders to the konbini?

Pee at the konbini

Custom Hanko Artwork

thomas — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 07:49:45 +0000

This tip won’t save you time or money, but it is pretty cool. Have you ever wanted your own personal seal (判子 hanko)? Maybe you have one already, but you want a cooler custom-designed hanko? You can get your own custom-designed hanko at www.87mama.com (read “hana-mama”).

After our son was born, my wife thought it would be fun to get him his own hanko. She did some searching and found 87mama.com, which is a father/daughter hanko-making team that specializes in custom hanko artwork. They had a forum where you could request a design for any picture you wanted so we decided to give it a shot. My family is originally from Sweden, so we tried to think of some design that would express our son’s Swedish heritage. We needed something to symbolize Sweden and yet be simple enough that it would show up well on a small rubber stamp. We chose the Dala Horse. We posted this picture on the request forum:

They said that it may take up to a month to get a reply (depending on how busy they are), and during our wait my wife and I decided that we would also like to get our own Dala Horse hankos. So we added a comment to our post saying we wanted three and listing our names. Not long after, we got a reply with this photo attached:

冬馬子 is my name in Kanji (とうます）. One cool thing about being a foreigner in Japan is that you can choose your own kanjis. I actually chose this combination as a joke back when I was a university student in Japan. Having 馬 (horse) in your name is a little silly and the 子 makes it look like a girl name. For whatever reason, it stuck so I still use it. It’s good for getting laughs at the elementary school.

Anyway, looking at the sample, we liked the Dala Horse design right away. Next we had to finalize some details about our order (wood color, stamp size, case) and then pay by bank transfer (credit card is also possible). Once they received our money, we moved on to the next step, which is tweaking the hanko design to get it just how we want it.

After paying, this was the first set of samples we received (click to enlarge):

My last name isn’t really “Helmut”. The designer just guessed based on the katakana to show us how romaji would look on our hankos. We didn’t really dig the romaji, so in our reply we told her to ax them. We said we liked the bigger horse style with the names written in one vertical line. We weren’t sure about the font yet. The next set of samples we got was this (click to enlarge):

Ooh! Awesome! We like the more angular font better than the cursive one. Just for fun, can we see a right-facing horse for Kazuko? (click to enlarge):

Glad we could see it, but we like the left-facing one better. For my own, I like the right-facing Dala Horse. We decided that we wanted Kazuko(A), Thomas(A) and Noah(B). Final answer? Yes. One last look (click to enlarge):

And within a week, we got them in the mail!

Stamped on the envelope:

Here they are with their nifty cases:

Poorly-focused attempt at a closeup shot:

Daddy, my new hanko matches my jammies!

There’s just something awesome about having a Dala Horse hanko. We may be the only people in the world who have them.

Our hankos came out to 7035 yen a piece, which isn’t cheap, but we got fancy cases and a large size stamp face. You could forgo the case and get a smaller stamp and make it under 5000 yen. That’s not unreasonable for a personalized, custom-made, hand-carved hanko. What a cool souvenir for your stay in Japan!

You will need some Japanese (or a Japanese-speaking friend) to communicate your needs to hanamama. If you have an idea you’d like to try, post a message on their request forum with a picture and the name you want on your hanko.

No related posts.

Thai Food: Finding Ingredients in Japan

thomas — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 08:43:04 +0000

I’m not a great cook, but I do enjoy cooking. Thai food is among my favorite varieties of food, so when I do get around to cooking often I will make Thai food. But oh no, where am I to find lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galanga, coconut cream and little Thai peppers in Japan? The local grocery store doesn’t have them. If I’m lucky an import store might stock them, but chances are they won’t have everything I need. I wish there was a place to order Thai ingredients (especially hard-to-find produce) online so that it will be delivered to my house. Oh wait, there is!

Thai Food In Japan

This list isn’t heavily researched. I haven’t made purchases from all of these stores, so I can’t compare them as far as service goes. But it should give you a starting point. If you want to find Thai ingredients in Japan, here are some options you can try (in random order):

Allied Thai: I found this label on packages at the local import store and went to check out their site. They have a big selection and everything is broken up nicely into categories so it’s easy to navigate. The products tend to be on the pricey side. I advice you price check with some of the other sites listed. http://www.allied-thai.co.jp/shop/index.html
Asia Superstore: Big selection and plenty of (low quality) pictures. If you don’t know the Japanese/Thai name of the ingredient you are looking for, a picture can be most helpful. Also pretty cheap. You can get your Thai produce here! http://www.asia-superstore.com/00contents/03.html
Thai Market Store: Selection is not that big, but cheaper than Allied Thai. They have plenty of recipes on the site, which might be useful to you for both cooking and Japanese study. http://www.thai-market.co.jp/SHOP/69591/list.html
Isara Store: Big selection, cheap and beautiful pictures of the food. They also put their sales up at the top! 120 yen for a can of coconut milk is pretty good! 168 yen nampla. Are you kidding me? This might be the best out of the bunch. http://www.isarastore.com/
Asia Foods Ltd: No pictures, but prices are reasonable and it has an easy interface. http://www1.neweb.ne.jp/wa/asiafoods/orderform.htm

You can also try Kaldi

Thai Restaurants In Japan

If you don’t feel like cooking you can always dine in. Search for Thai restaurants here:

Do you know of any other places to grab Thai ingredients in Japan? How about some other variety of food? I’d love to make a series of similar posts on how to find Mexican food, Indian food, Swedish food, etc. Post your favorite import food links in the comments!

TheFlyingPig.com: Costco Shipped To Your Door

thomas — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 03:10:30 +0000

Many people have sent in a tip about theflyingpig.com, so it’s about time I did a little write-up on this great service in Japan. I really don’t know what took me so long! I should have written about them much much earlier than now.

Here is a little about TheFlyingPig.com in their own words:

About TheFlyingPig.com

Reasonable prices on imported groceries and general merchandise in Japan? When pigs fly! But that was before Costco Wholesale opened its doors here. Afterwards, there were only two problems left: not everyone can get to a Costco warehouse very easily, and Internet ordering isn’t available. In a nutshell, TheFlyingPig.Com was launched to overcome these issues. (Please note that TheFlyingPig.Com is an independent entity, and is not owned or controlled by Costco.)

In other words, if you don’t have a Costco near you, you can order through TheFlyingPig.Com and they will go to Costco and hook you up. They are highly recommended by many many foreigners living in Japan, so give them a shot. They have a nice selection of cheese too!

Have you used theflyingpig.com before? Tell about your experiences in the comments!

Sweet-mommy.jp – Maternity Wear Online

thomas — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 05:40:38 +0000

Are you or somebody you know expecting? If so, you (or they) might want to check out sweet-mommy.jp.

Sweet-mommy.jp sells maternity (マタニティウエア) and nursing (授乳服) clothes online. They have formal wear, casual wear, tops, bottoms and coats for new and expecting mothers.

Although they divide their catalog into two sections, the clothes in maternity are designed to facilitate nursing too, so they can be worn and used after delivery. Most of their merchandise is in the 8000-10,000 yen range, but they have some in the 5000-7000s too. Right now they have fukubukuro for sale right here.

We bought a few outfits from sweet-mommy.com (their old url) when my wife was pregnant with our son and we were (still are) very satisfied with them. Ordering online means you don’t have to leave your house – a great comfort when there is a 7-8 month bun in the oven. Check them out.

How To Find Cheese In Japan Part 2

thomas — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 03:38:27 +0000

Back in September, I wrote an article about finding cheese in Japan. It highlighted the site order-cheese.com, which I use religiously to stock up on cheese. I really love cheese, so I was quite happy when some helpful readers wrote in with some more options for finding cheese in Japan.

The Meat Guy Has Cheese

Nina writes:

Recently a friend of mine showed me a website to get cheese and other hard to find meats. They are based in Nagoya and they ship only in Japan.

www.themeatguy.jp

There’s not hardly as much cheese on this website as the one that you recommend but the prices are significantly cheaper. I haven’t compared everything but I am currently in the market for sharp white cheddar cheese. Order-cheese.com has 200grams for 1,040yen. TheMeatguy.com has the same stuff (I think) 1/2kilogram for 870yen. That’s a big difference!

At the same time though, the shipping for TheMeatGuy will kill you. It’s about 600yen PLUS a COD charge of another 300yen or so. They don’t give you much choice for payment options, so the money I save ends up going into shipping! Still, I think TheMeatGuy.com wins out in the end depending on what you’re looking for and how much you want to buy.

Finally, I’d just like to say that your website is interesting and informative and I’m always checking for updates! Thanks for writing something so awesome!

And the site is in English! I’d like to add that The Meat Guy doesn’t just have cheese. He also sells an assortment of meat, bread, fish, pies, spices and even deli sandwich meat. And here I was eating peanut butter and jelly everyday. Thanks Nina!

(For the record, order-cheese.com charges 800 yen for shipping Japan-wide. They often run special “free shipping” promotions though.)

Hanamasa And Costco Have Cheese Too

Shari of My So-Called Japanese Life sends in this tip:

If there is one in your area, one of the best places to get cheese is Hanamasa. The selection is limited but you can buy it in bulk for very reasonable prices. My husband and I pick up gouda, mozzarella, and cheddar from them. These are blocks of real cheese, not processed cheese and I believe they are all imports (the cheddar is British). At about 100 yen per 100 grams for real cheese, it’s a deal which is hard to beat if you’re trying to find good cheese on the cheap.

They have 71 shops in Japan and locations are listed on their web site. They also carry a wide variety of other foods more cheaply than average shops including many types of meat. The ham and spicy sausage are particularly good and decent value.

Costco is, of course, another option, and they carry a lot of varieties of cheese, but Hanamasa is more convenient for frequent purchases and has far more locations. Also, buying large blocks in bulk (you can freeze it if necessary though it messes up the texture) means you can eat it everyday. ;-)

Looking at the Hanamasa store locations, it appears that they are all in Tokyo and adjacent prefectures. Not an option if you live in western Japan, but if you are in the Tokyo-area, check it out. Shari also mentioned Costco. To find out if there is a store near you, check this list. Thanks Shari!

Final Words on Cheese

Thanks for the tips! If you haven’t done so already, please take a look at Finding Cheese In Japan Part 1 and don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS Feed to get the latest tips and hacks delivered straight to your feed reader.

How To Find Cheese In Japan

thomas — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:54:19 +0000

I love cheese. I’d eat it everyday if I could. Back home, cheese was something I ate often. Not only did I eat it often, but the local grocery stores had a huge selection of different cheeses for me to devour. When I came to Japan, I found the situation to be quite different. Full of optimism, I charged into the neighborhood grocery store, hungry for cheese. Moments later I stumbled out, bewildered, my mind wrestling with the big question…

Where’s the cheese?

The average Japanese grocery store has about four kinds of cheese available: parmesan cheese, cream cheese, Camembert cheese and “processed” cheese. Some of the bigger stores like Jusco have a slightly larger selection, where you might find cheddar, mozzerella or pepperjack. Import food stores are also a solution. If you live in an urban area, chances are you will have a large import food store that offers a wide selection of foreign cheeses (and beer!).

If you don’t have a good import food store near you, or you want a still larger selection of cheese, or you simply don’t want to take the trouble to get up and go to the store, don’t panic. Why not have cheese delivered directly to your door?

ORDER-CHEESE.COM

Order-cheese.com is a service that does just that. They have a large selection to choose from and they deliver quickly to your home. The price is a little high, but this is Japan. We just have to accept the fact that cheese won’t be cheap here.

The site is in Japanese, but fortunately the cheese categories have English headings. Couple this with your knowledge of katakana and you should be able to find what you’re looking for in no time. To save time, you can use the search box at the top to manually search for a specific cheese. If you don’t know how to write your favorite cheese in katakana, try googling it:

Tokubai

On the left-hand side of order-cheese.com, under the category names, you will find some items labeled “tokubai”. “Tokubai” (特売 [とくばい]) means “sale”. These cheeses are available at a discount price. Just click on the link and you will be taken to a description of the promotion (skip to the bottom for prices). Also, if you are extremely addicted to cheese, you can sign up for their newsletter and they will periodically send you discounts, two-for-one deals and such. To sign up, type your email address into the form at the bottom of the page labeled Mail Magazine (メイルマガジン [a term which incidentally came up in an interesting poll on WhatJapanThinks recently]).

I found out about order-cheese.com a few months ago and I’ve purchased cheese from them on four separate occasions. They deliver fast and fresh, and they have an enormous selection. Payment is flexible – you can pay by credit card, COD or convenience store ticket (my personal choice). Moreover, by using order-cheese.com, you can earn mileage with your Northwest Airlines WorldPerks or JAL Mileage Bank. I recommend trying out their “Variety Sets” in order to sample some cheeses you may not ordinarily buy yourself.

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