The one thing I find difficult about living in a different country is the fact that they don’t have a wide selection of comfort foods from my home country.  Or even foods we would traditional have for the holidays or give to my kids while they are young.  Now and then, I might be able to find some products in a local store but the stores are not always available.   Thanks to social media, I have discovered many companies, based online, that will allow you to order food from their website and ship it straight to your door step in Japan.

Please keep in mind that prices vary from company to company.

Name: Foreign Buyers’ Club (F.B.C)

Website: http://www.fbcusa.com/

Website Language: English or Japanese

This website is split into two; the general store and the deli.  The general store will take over a month to ship bulk items to your house at a reasonable fee.  While the deli will ship within a week as it comes from their store and warehouse that are located in Kobe, Japan.  You can also find Costco products available on their site.

They also have party supplies, teaching materials, magazines, and many other non-food related items.

When ordering, you have the option to join by paying a 1,000yen membership for year (this is good if you order often) or pay an extra 5% on your subtotal each time you order.

They also have Madi’s Remailing service available.  “Madi’s Remailing Service imports goods on your behalf under the Personal Importing System. Think of it as your middleman for getting your items from wherever they are to wherever you are. As long as you can get your items to our location in Los Angeles, we’ll take care of the rest and get it to your door …at a great price!” You can find out more about it from HERE.

Discounts: From time to time there are discount codes for free shipping and items become discounted after seasons as well. Please keep an eye out for that as well.

Shipping: You can request a certain time for delivery and they will try to accommodate. They charge extra when shipping cool or frozen items. If you a problem receiving your order, contact them via e-mail or fax, and they will contact the shipping company on your behalf.

Payment: Payment is either your credit card or C.O.D(cash on delivery). An additional fee will be charged when using C.O.D.

Name: The Flying Pig

Website: http://www.theflyingpig.com/

Website Language: English or Japanese

Since Costco is not easily accessible by train or if you don’t have a car or the time to go to one, that is where The flying pig comes in handy.  It is a website dedicated to products from Costco Wholesale in Japan, while trying to keep their prices within 20% of the original price. There site contains many products from Costco Japan and they are able to import other products (‘PI’-Personal Import) from the Hawaii branch of Costco. Products often change, so they send a weekly e-mail to customers with product changes in order to keep everyone up-to-date.

Shipping: Domestic shipping normally takes 48 to 72 hours from receipt of payment while PI items are shipped from Hawaii every Tuesday and Friday, with delivery about 5-8 days later. They use Sagawa or Yamato delivery companies for shipping your products. They are also able to ship frozen or cool items for an additional charge.

Here is a link to their shipping information:   The Flying Pig Shipping Policy

Payment: You are able to pay by Credit card (Visa, MasterCard, and JCB) or via paypal, C.O.D,  bank or postal transfer.  You are able to earn pigmiles when using a bank or postal transfer. Please read more about it HERE.

Name: Expat Express

Website address: https://www.expatexpress.com

Website Language: English

On this site you are able to order groceries, ingredients, drinks, etc.  They also have a mail forwarding system that will allow you to order from other sites and they will then ship them all to your address in Japan for a fee.

Shipping: Orders are shipped Tuesday and Friday of each week. Orders received by Monday at 10:00 PM Japan standard time will be shipped Tuesday. Orders received by Thursday at 10:00 PM Japan standard time will be shipped on Friday. Once shipped your order will usually arrive at your doorstep within 5 business days.

Payment:  Credit card (Visa, Master Card, American Express, Paypal, or Skrill). Please note that credit cards held by a Japanese institutions are charged in U.S. dollars and converted back to yen at the next day’s exchange rate. This means the yen amount on your credit card statement may be slightly different from the yen amount on your purchase invoice, (Usually 1% or less).

Name: iHerb

Website address: http://www.iherb.com

Website Language: English, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Chinese, Spanish

This site is loved by many in Japan. They carry a variety of healthy foods, ingredients, and other products that are not easily found in Japan (such as flaxseed or chia). They also have a great selection of vitamins, beauty products, household products, over the counter medicines, etc.  Some orders may hold an extra custom fee.  Please read HERE to learn more.
Discounts: They offer $10 of your first purchase of $60 dollars or more, offer free shipping from time to time and other rewards for being a valued customer.

Shipping: Delivery is made by Sagawa and usually takes 3-5days.

Payment: Credit cards

Name: Tengu Natural Foods- Alishan Organics Center

Website address: http://www.alishan-organics.com/Alishan2010_organics/about/about-alishan/

Website Language: English and Japanese

Tengu Natural Foods is a mail order service for organic vegetarian foods, environmentally sound cleaning supplies, and more.  They ship all orders in just a few days after ordering.

Shipping: Payment for shipping is outlined HERE on their website. There is an extra charge when shipping cool or frozen items. You can request a certain time for delivery when checking out during your order. (morning, 12-2, 2-4, 4-6, 6-8 or 8-9)

Payment: Credit card (Visa or Master card) and C.O.D. (An extra charge of 200yen is applied.)

Name: The Meat Guy

Website address: http://www.themeatguy.jp/

Website Language: English or Japanese.

I think the name says it all, a company dedicated to meat.  Some meat products are not available at the local grocer or the quality is lower to what you would get back home. That is where this company comes in, quality product delivered straight to your door.  They also sell some cheese products, grocery items, and other items. Please check out their website.

Shipping: Delivery charges apply to your order no matter how small or big it is. You are able to request a certain time for delivery. It will be a 2hour frame between the hours of 10am and 10pm.

Payment: Credit card (Visa, Master Card, American Express, JCB) to the driver, who will swipe your card.  C.O.D. to the driver or invoice sent to the buyer who then pays through a bank or postal transfer.  The company will not take credit card information through their website.

Name: The Flying Pieman

Website address: http://www.flyingpieman.jp/en/content/4-about-us

Website Language: English and Japanese

The Flying Pieman is an Australian meat pie shop based in Onomichi City. They are handmade pies that are made to order. So please allow 2-4 days before orders can be shipped.

Discount or Point system: 1% of your order (excluding shipping and other charges) will be credited to your account and be used as a discount on future orders. You must register an account in order to get this discount.

Shipping: Delivery is by Yamato cool service. “As our product is frozen, you need to put the pies in your freezer as soon as you receive them, or eat them very quickly.”

Payment: Credit card (Visa, Master Card, American express, JCB) via paypal, C.O.D. (An extra charge of 315yen is applied), bank transfer or postal account transfer.

I hope these websites can help make living here a bit easier.  I know for me, it has made it a little less stressful.

***The please keep in mind that the information that was gathered and posted here may change at the discretion of the company.