Living & Working in Ishikawa, Japan
As a foreigner living in Ishikawa, no matter how much you love Japanese food, there comes a point when you have had enough pickled vegetables, curry, and cod sperm. Want to whip-up something from home, but can’t find certain ingredients? Well, here is a collection of shops in Kanazawa where you can find food items from back home.
Yamaya – やまや
This is THE foreign import store of mass-produced goods. Here you will find ingredients for Italian, Southeast Asian, Tex Mex, and Indian meals. You’ll also find imported potato chips and snacks, matzo ball soup, pancake mix, maple syrup, peanut butter, garbanzo beans, flour tortillas, hot sauce, and tons more. My listings are biased, so check this place out for yourself. Personally, I think their strength lies in their assortment of alcohol. They have a decent selection of imported beers that you won’t find in any Japanese market or conbini and an impressive selection of spirits for very decent prices; I’ve found the spirits here to be 10-30% cheaper than in the US. There are many branches spread across Japan, including one in Nanao, three in Kanazawa, one in Nonoichi, and one in Komatsu. Click here for a complete listing and hours of operation. http://www.yamaya.co.jp
Diamond - ダイヤモンド
Ah, the elusive Diamond market. Often described as the foreign goods store on the second floor of Omicho Market – beware! Many never find it, so let me guide you. From the fancy entrance facing M’za (see picture), go into the actual market, turn left, then turn right, and finally turn right once more. It will be on your left hand side. Go into the shop and THEN go upstairs to the second floor. If you try taking any other stairs to “the second floor,” you’ll never get there. This shop has a plethora of foreign goods similar to Yamaya, but more selective and on a much smaller scale. They include hundreds of spices, ghee, dry pastas, sun dried tomatoes, baking goods, shredded coconut, agave syrup, Cherry Cola, and cooking oils (avocado, grapeseed, walnut, almond). Hours of operation follow Omicho market’s schedule. http://www.daiya-net.co.jp/index.html
Fu-do – 風土
For the health-conscience, Fu-do offers a variety of brown rice (玄米) harvested exclusively by a dozen farmers across Ishikawa prefecture. A kilo of rice averages around 500-600円. They will gladly offer you rice bran (ヌカ) free of charge. You can use the rice bran to cook bamboo shoots in the spring! If you are not familiar with cooking brown rice in your rice cooker, wash it and then let it soak in water for 5 hours prior to turning on the cooker. The shop is located in the basement of Omicho market near the escalators. Hours of operation are 10am-6pm and follow Omicho’s holiday schedule. http://fu-do.agri-ishikawa.jp
Yaoya -八百屋
This shop is owned by Yamada-san, a friendly fellow who lived in Canada for a while and speaks some English. He carries an assortment of seasonal produce from Ishikawa as well as some goods from overseas. Shop highlights include: passion fruit, fresh coriander (cilantro), jalapeños, zebra tomatoes, purple cauliflower, round squash, and cherimoyas. He receives new stock on Tuesdays and Saturdays, but if you are coming from out of town, he recommends giving him a call to check what produce is available that day. Produce subject to change with the seasons. Yaomatsu is located near the top of Shintatemachi. He is open from 8am-6pm and closed on Sundays. http://www.yaomatsu.jp
Cheese Oukoku – チーズ王国
This shop, in the basement (デパ地下) of Daiwa, opened less than a year ago. It carries a nice variety of cheeses (ricotta, gouda, cheddar, blue, parmessan, mozzarela, brie, camambert, and more). Word to the wise, if you are looking for pure crumbly feta, check out the cheese section in M’za’s basement market. These shops are not cheap, but the quality and selection is 10 times better than anything you’ll find at the supermarket. As an added bonus, if you are looking to make pesto from scratch, you can find pine nuts in the Daiwa basement market right around the cheese shop. Hours are from 10am-7pm. http://www.cheese-oukoku.co.jp/
The Meat Guy
The Meat Guy is an online meat provider based in Nagoya. Not exactly in the neighborhood, but if you are looking for meat, this is your guy. You can find anything on there: lamb chops, turkey, alligator sausage, rib eye steaks, suckling pig, Australian beef and more. Shipping is a reasonable 650円 and occasionally he offers free shipping deals. Check him out at http://www.themeatguy.jp.
This listing is Kanazawa-centric as this is where I live, but it should cover many of your bases. I invite those who live outside Kanazawa and everyone else to chime in with your recommendations in the comments section!
Here is a map I’ve put together of all of the shops listed.
Mauricio is a 2nd year ALT in Kanazawa who very much loves Japanese food.
If you’re on the hunt for a new local ice cream, check out Noto “Mottainai” Gelato (能登のもったいないジェラート). The Japanese phrase もったいない means a variety of things depending on context, but in this case, it means “What a waste!” Why name an ice cream this? Anamizu’s Noto Wine, which prides itself on creating little waste and using most parts of the grape to make wine, has teamed up with Malga Gelato to create a gelato that uses the skin of wine grapes so as not to waste them.
Image from Malga Gelato
According to the Kanazawa Keitai Shimbun, the gelato was created during a campaign to reduce material waste during the wine-making process. The result is a rich, creamy vanilla gelato with hint of red wine and a jam-like paste of Yama Sauvignon grape peels mixed in. I love trying unusual ice cream flavors, and I really enjoyed this. It’d be great served as a classy dessert after a homemade Italian meal. According to the article linked above, 6000 units have been sold as of 15 April.
100% of the proceeds from 2:46 – Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake will be donated to the Japan Red Cross. The Kindle e-book is available for purchase at the US and UK Amazons. If you do not have a Kindle, you can download a FREE Kindle app for your Mac, PC, or smart phone with your purchase.
The 2:46 Quakebook project started with a tweet and is on the verge of something great, a way that we can help all those hit by the the March 11th, 2011 earthquake and its aftermath.
Led by OurManInAbiko, a call went out across Twitter for contributors to create a book to raise funds for Red Cross Japan. The idea was to share the stories and experiences of people actually on the ground during the earthquake, whilst raising funds for the Red Cross.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been affected by this event; from those directly in the earthquake zone, the path of the tsunami, in the evacuation area around the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, to those in many other areas of Japan, whose lives have been disrupted by rolling power blackouts, poor road conditions, food and water supply difficulties, and more.
The contributions in 2:46 Quakebook have come from a wide variety of sources, and include photographs, personal accounts, drawings; each telling their own tale.
All revenues from sales of the book goes directly to Red Cross, Japan. We urge you to buy the book, buy a copy as a gift, promote it, share it, tweet about it, review it, blog about it, link to it, etc.
The tale of the evolution of QuakeBook can be found under the hashtag #quakebook on Twitter.
If you like the traditional arts and crafts of Ishikawa and feel the need to create and be creative, makes plans to head to Kaga’s Yunokuni no Mori (ゆのくにの森). Yunokuni no Mori is a Kaga Traditional Cultural Amenity and offers guests the chance to watch craft-making, make their own crafts, and make or eat fantastic food. (Yes, handmade food is an artistic creation!)
Photo by Leah Zoller.
The “village” is a cluster of workshops that focus on the traditional crafts of Ishikawa: kutani ceramic pottery（kutani-yaki, 九谷焼）; Wajima lacquerware (wajima nuri, 輪島塗）; Japanese paper-making （washi, 和紙）; Kaga yuzen printed silk （yuzen, 友禅）; gold leaf（kinpaku, 金箔）; Yamanaka lacquerware (yamanaka nuri, 山中塗); music boxes (orugouru, オルゴール); glasswork (gurasu kougei, グラス工芸); Echizen pottery (echizen te bineri, 越前手びねり) and the culinary arts: Japanese and Western sweets (okashi, お菓子) and soba-noodle making (soba, そば). There are three restaurants with delicious local food, a teahouse, an omiyage shop, and some art galleries as well. You pay a flat fee to enter, and then you pay a fee for whatever activities you choose.
The village is gorgeous—set in a wooden area not too far from Natadera by car, the thatched roves and stone paths of the village are gorgeous in the snow. The village boasts beautiful wildflowers and blooms in the warmer months, and maple leaves in the fall.
Photo from Yunokuni no Mori's website.
If you speak good Japanese, around JLPT N2 level, you shouldn’t have a problem making the crafts. A lot of the signs are bilingual, but the staff isn’t really, though they are friendly and willing to help. I recommend going with a Japanese-speaker if you don’t speak a lot.
When I visited, I decorated a tea tray with gold leaf at a workshop. If you have a small group (under 10 people), you don’t need a reservation, so I was able to just walk into the gold leaf house and didn’t have to wait to get started. The gold-leaf decorating, like the pottery painting/sculpture and paper-making, is priced based on the piece. A tea tray is about 1500 yen to decorate, but a vase is 2000 yen. You can view the prices on the website: click on the building on the map, then scroll down and click the activity (Japanese only).
Photo by Leah Zoller
This was a lovely way to spend the afternoon, and I can’t recommend Hakusan, the soba restaurant, enough. I ordered a vegetable-based meal of soba and a stone pot of rice and veggies, and it was worth every yen.
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Take a look at your household cleaning products. How many bottles of cleaners do you have? One for the bath, one for the kitchen, one for the toilet, one for mold, one for drains…. You can save a lot of money and make your home healthier and more eco-friendly by switching to cleaners made with two inexpensive, easy-to-find products: baking soda and vinegar.
Photo from Amazon.co.jp
Baking soda (juusou, 重曹) is, regrettably, not as cheap as it is in the US, but vinegar (su, 酢) is fairly inexpensive (and can be used on its own as a cleaner). If you don’t feel like mixing your own cleaner, you can buy it premixed. Several companies make this product: One is “Baking Soda and Vinegar Kitchen Cleaner” (juusou tasu osu daidokoro kurinaa, 重曹+お酢台所クリーナー), which, of course, can be used all over the home; another is Baking-Soda-chan (juusou-chan, 重曹ちゃん).
Image from amazon.co.jp
Baking soda and vinegar is a great disinfectant and household cleaner. I use it to clean my kitchen counters and sink, my bathtub and bathroom, my oven range and gas range, the top of my kotatsu, and my toilet. That’s at least four separate cleaners I don’t have to buy! I bought my first bottle pre-mixed, and I refill it by mixing powdered mix with water in the same spray bottle. A 500-gram box of powdered Juusou-chan is extremely cheap at 250 yen and will last forever.
There are quite a few benefits of using baking soda and vinegar.
Regardless of how long you’ve been here, you’re always looking for ways of getting rid of things and adding things to your home. Sometimes it takes a long time to find the good places to find affordable items – from household needs and furniture to media and entertainment. With winter coming on, most people get a really strong nesting urge, because you start spending a whole lot more time in your house. Even if you are leaving at the end of your current contract, unsure how long you’ll be here, or staying for the long run – the winter lulls can be helped by a nice, welcoming, uncluttered home.
So here are some places to supplement your needs.
Getting rid of and finding stuff from the people you know!
The JET forum For Sale/Wanted Section
When you want to give folks a chance to buy your unwanted items – this is a good way to give those useable things a new home! Likewise, if you are looking for something, post your need and someone who may happen to just have that lying around can fulfill your need.
Here is our original post about what to do and guidelines for posting. Please read it before posting. There are items up now, take a look! Any thread on the forum that is locked is an old posting and the item has sold or the person has had found the item they needed.
Nonoichi
Nonoichi is *the place* for making your home a little lighter and brighter. Between the slew of affordable homestores, media stores, and recycle shops (the nomer for second-hand stores here in Japan), even from the Noto it can be your best bet for good items.
One of our former contributors also highlighted some of the more fun uber-boutiques to go to! http://ishikawajet.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/get-your-shop-on/
Here are the big ones to note!
We’ve all got these nearby, but the stock at each store has a lot of to do with the socio-economic demographic that the store is located in. I’ve got a bit of cheapskate streak and have been known to go to various locations all over Ishikawa just to see what I can find, so I have noticed that quality varies between the locations greatly. If your Second Street is located in an area filled with established families, you’re going to find a lot of higher end items – maybe some really great unidentified antiques to take back home when you leave Japan (which I’ve done!). If you are near one of the universities, you’re going to find some wacky décor items and a lot of cheap, ready-to-carry house items, clothes and shoes.
The two locations that I have found most of the larger items in my house are the Nonoichi and Kencho locations. Keep in mind, the closer you are to the location, the lower the delivery charge is for items larger than you are able to transport. If you live in the Noto and buy something large from the two following locations, it will be a lot more than buying from the Hakui Second Street.
In Nonoichi: 石川県石川郡野々市町本町６丁目２１−２１ 076-294-1622 (Google Map link)
Near the Kencho: 石川県金沢市戸水２丁目６４ 076-267-5070 (Google map link)
Something to keep in mind if you are trying to get rid of things from your house: you can take these (cleaned) items to Second Street and sell them. The staff will go through everything and ask you to wait in the store. If they are unable to take any of the items you’ve brought in, they will give them back to you. For large items, you can schedule a day for a staff member to come to your home and look at the items, and they will take what they think they can sell.
When getting rid of usable items, I would use Second Street as a last resort, because you will not get a lot of money for the items you are selling. It’s better to try the forum and people around you first.
http://www.mandaishoten.com/modules/contents9/
Wonderful Store of Wonderfulness
Located on Route 8, across from Nonoichi SATY is a place, when we didn’t know what it was really called, we referred to as ‘The Wonderful Store of Wonderfulness.” This place is not so much on the home furnishings, but where you go for the things to put in that new bookshelf, TV cabinet and wardrobe you just found for cheap on the forum. They have every gaming system ever created for sale, games, game guides, new and used CDs and DVDs, new and used manga and books, musical instruments, clothes, shoes, sporting goods (I got a pristine Burton snowboard there for 6000 yen, for example), toys, pop-culture goods, posters, gaming cards, some electronics, phones, crane games (UFO), and a other random finds! (Google map link)
Nitori
Nitori is where you go to buy new furniture, from the inexpensive to the really nice amazing couch that everyone vies for sitting rights on when they come to your place. They pretty much have everything you need for your house. Right now they also have Christmas decorations, a huge selection of kotatsus, and clearance items!
http://www.nitori.co.jp/en/index.html (yay! English!)
Ishikawa locations: http://www.nitori.co.jp/en/shop/hokuriku/index.html#ishikawa
Other ideas for your home: Ikea
No, unfortunately there is not an Ikea location in Kanazawa (though, there bloody well should be!!!). The nearest and easiest location to get to is Amagasaki (Osaka). It makes for a great road trip to Osaka if you haven’t been yet and is pretty much exactly like every other Ikea in the world. Ikea will help you set up delivery to Ishikawa for large furniture items. The floor staff isn’t as knowledgeable about the options as the shipping staff you talk to after the cash register.
If you cannot get to Osaka yourself, there is this option through the Yoyo Market personal shopper: http://www.yoyomarket.jp/Articles.asp?ID=151
If you have any other ideas for making your home a little more home-like, please post them in the comments!
-t
Because AJET does not have a budget and can’t offer any sort of funding for this great cause, we humbly ask for your used books.Here are some general dates you can drop-off books with Megan or at IFIE:
Rifare’s wroking hours: 08:30 to 08:00 (weekdays)
08:30 to 17:00 (weekend)
(You can address it to Rohan Ranade if it’s a parcel)
10/30/2010, Saturday
8pm-10pm @ Kabocha in Kanazawa (AJET HALLOWEEN PARTY)
Megan will collect books at the AJET party, all you have to do is drop them off with her before you start drinking. 
11/03/2010, Wednesday (National Culture Day – Holiday)
All Day @ the Book Sale in Rifare during IFIE’s International Festival
You can still drop off books on the day of the book sale. 
Clean out your shelves in time for winter!
Photo from Noto Style
Come to the Notojima Te-Matsuri (のとじま手祭り), Noto’s favorite craft fair! The “creative arts fair” will be held in the We-Land Campground (Weランド) of Notojima on Saturday, October 16, and Sunday, October 17, from 10:00-16:00 on both days.
This casual art fair is fairly small, but it’s a good chance to get gifts and omiyage from the Noto/Ishikawa and to support local artists. The arts and crafts represented are glass, lacquerware, woodwork, gold, ceramics, fabric and woven goods, cloth goods, and leather goods. There will also be food booths. (Last year, there were hot noodles and handmade sweets and coffee.)
While you’re at Notojima, be sure to check out the Glass Art Museum （グラス美術館）and/or the Notojima Aquarium (能登島水族館).
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Whether this is your first encounter with Japan and the Japanese language or if you studied abroad in Nagoya for a year and majored in Japan Studies, you will come across a word (or an obscure fish kanji) that totally throws you off. If you are with a student or teacher, they may whip out the denshi jisho (electronic dictionary), inspiring your immediate envy. All of them seem to give decent translations, and the ones you really want to raid Yamada Denki for have little screens where you can take a shot at that baffling kanji with a stylus.
Denshi jisho are great tools, but they are infamously expensive. The kind with a kanji-writing screen can put you back 20,000-30,000 new, depending on the brand, and 12,000 used. That’s a lot of yen to invest, especially in something that does only one thing. Before you commit to the denshi jisho, let’s explore some alternatives that utilize technology you might already own.
There’s an App for That
If you own an iPod Touch or iPhone, then you have many, many choices. Through the iTunes store, you can find all manner of dictionary apps for a fraction of the price of a denshi jisho. (Note: my experience is with the American store, but I am sure that most English-Japanese products can be purchased through Canadian, South African, Australian, or New Zealandian iTunes stores.) Mrbrass.org has reviews and screenshots of the apps if you want more info. Some of the top picks include:
Fun and Games
If you have a Nintendo DS, there is a famous denshi jisho alternative waiting for you. Kanji Sonomama is expensive in the US, but can be purchased used from amazon.co.jp or from Book Off and other game resellers. Kani Sonomama uses the DS touch screen to allow you to write and look up kanji. It is made for a Japanese-speaking audience, however, so be ready to spend a little time getting to know the navigation system. Non-obscure words have English translations, and obscure words have hiragana readings. This tool is perfect for reading forms or looking up kanji at the grocery store; however, the English-Japanese interface is tricky enough to make it impractical for conversations or teaching, as it gives only kanji for any English word you look up.
Phone a Friend
Your keitai, even if it was a freebie, has more features than you would care to believe. Almost every keitai has a built-in dictionary. The English to Japanese (英和) interface sometimes has the same problem as Kanji Sonomama (giving you kanji you may not know how to read) but the Japanese to English （和英） is generally good. It will take some time to get used to using the keitai dictionary interface, but hey, it comes with your phone. Use your own judgment as to whether or not it is appropriate to use your keitai as a dictionary in school.
A feature worth looking for is kanji grabber. In more feature-rich phones, this will be under the camera menu. Basically, your phone uses the camera and built in dictionary to scan kanji you hold the phone up to. It then copy-pastes it into the Japanese-English dictionary and allows you to search. This feature is great for everyday words and phrases, but I’ve found that the English database doesn’t extend to fish at the restaurant or grocery store.
Ultimately, you know your own technology preferences. If that single-function denshi jisho represents a significant investment in learning Japanese and would serve as a motivator, then awesome. But for those who want the function and not the product, I hope that this has provided some other options.
If you’ve had a great experience with an alternative not listed here or have found that these alternatives pale in comparison with your denshi jisho, please enlighten us!
Posted by Lauren, who wants to be tech savvy one day.
A new Uniqlo location will open on the 3rd floor of Korinbo 109 on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010.
For the uninitiated, Uniqlo is similar to a Gap or an Old Navy–a store of affordable basics for men, women, and children and basic career wear for adults. Favorite items among the JETs include the fleece pajamas, heat-tech undershirts, non-frilly bras, button-down shirts for work, patterned tights/leggings, and wool sweaters. (Winter is coming, after all!)
My favorite thing about Uniqlo is the free hemming services on purchases over 1990 yen (300 yen charge for purchases under 1990 yen). Despite being the average height for an American woman (5’4″ or 163 cm), I have trouble finding jeans that fit lengthwise in the States. At Uniqlo, just roll your jeans or slacks to your preferred length and ask for 補正 (hosei; correction, or, in this case, alteration) or すそ上げ (suso age, raising the hem/cuff) when you’re in the dressing room. The clerk will pin the hem for you. When you purchase the pants, the front register will send them back to be hemmed and give you a receipt to make sure you get the right pants. The process usually takes about 15 minutes. Brilliant!
Uniqlo also accepts used Uniqlo-brand clothes to be given to charities abroad.
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Upcoming Events
