When I discovered that Tesco, the massive British supermarket chain, had recently opened a few stores in Japan, I decided to investigate, driven by perverse curiosity and a homesick hunger for baked beans and biscuits. I went to an obscure Tokyo station called Meidaimae, where I got lost trying to find the place, and laughed at my own insanity for going on a lengthy and complicated mission to find something as dull and unappealing as a tin of baked beans. Eventually I found the place, the Tesco sign looking very incongruous in a Japanese suburb. I was pleased to discover a shelf of goods imported from Britain inside, gathering dust. Pretty authentic stuff, as you can see from the dented tin of beans below.
Here’s a link to the Tesco website, if you want to go yourself.
November 27, 2007 at 11:54 pm |
Hi Roaf,
There are also branches of the American wholesale store Costco in Tokyo. If it hasn’t changed, there is one at Tamasakai station, near the Tama Center (home of Hello Kitty world. hehehe). And there is one in Maihama I think it is.
But if you are a lazy bugger you can order online from theflyingpig.com and it will be shipped to you (I think they ship to anywhere in Japan)!
November 28, 2007 at 1:43 am |
[...] Tonic has a post about finding authentic western goods in Japan (at Tesco branches) <—–>NihonHacks is always looking for good tips like this (like Thomas’ post [...]
November 28, 2007 at 8:31 am |
Thanks. I may have to go and stock up for the Christmas holidays!
November 29, 2007 at 12:52 am |
Hope you didn’t buy that dented can ‘o beans.
November 29, 2007 at 8:29 pm |
Nah, I got the one behind it.
February 1, 2008 at 7:36 pm |
Meidaimae is obscure only if you expect everywhere in Tokyo to be on the JR lines. The KEIO Inokashira line from Shibuya, or the KEIO Line from Shinjuku to there costs only ¥130. There are also through-routed trains from the Toei Shinjuku line.