Japan Part 2: Combinis and other adventures

Combini: The combini, or convenience store as Americans call it (to me it's a shop), reigns supreme in Tokyo. There is genuinely a 7/11, Family Mart or Lawson on every street corner.

Combini snacks:
The best vegan option for combini snacks are packaged onigiri. They usually cost about 100-105 yen each and are pretty widely available. There are many different fillings but the two vegan ones to look out for are umeboshi and kelp.
I have very little knowledge of Japanese, and I was lucky to have constant and tireless translation on hand, but if you don't it's worth looking up the kanji for these two fillings.
Umeboshi generally has a pink label, and kelp usually has green but obviously that is not an exact science as it can vary from brand to brand.
Although combinis open 24 hours, (Tokyo is very much a 24h city) they do often run out of refrigerated stuff at night so it's a good idea to stock up on snacks during the day.

Some crisps and ice-pops are vegan friendly but it is a limited selection.
Check some of the links I put in the first posts, there are good lists and pictures of combini discoveries and brands to look out for on other blogs.

My favourite discovery were Matcha Oreos!
Yes they're vegan, and yes the filling does taste like green tea but they're delicious and are a unique Japanese experience! 

Combini Drinks: Combinis also have fruit juice, iced teas and soya milk cartons for those of you who want more than just water. I don't like drinking straight soya milk but for those of you who do there are some interesting flavours, including coffee and sweet potato, in addition to the regular sweetened and unsweetened, just look out for the cartons with the little bird on the label.



Combini lunch: Matcha Oreos, fruit juice carton, kelp onigiri


Natto: I also tried the infamous natto, both on it's own and in natto maki. I found them in a pretty epic 24-hour discount shop (don't you just love Japan?) called Don Quijote. Oddly enough I didn't really care for the natto on it's own, it has a bland, sour, fermented taste. However I loved the natto maki! Nori, rice and natto just seem to compliament each other in a way I can't explain!

Supermarkets: I wasn't in many big supermarkets, simply because I was running around the city all day and just needed snacks. If you want to have some decent ingredients to cook with, or simply want some fresh fruit, a supermarket would be a much better option than the combini. There are fewer of them, but are still easy enough to find around the city.

Organic Supermarkets: The only organic supermarket I found was Natural House. The selection wasn't huge but they do have vegan bentos, just ask the staff. I got a pretty big bento for 900 yen, which I was pretty content with but I think it's a bit expensive to buy regularly.

Starbucks: The only other place I frequented as regularly as the combini was Starbucks. I know, you may say what's the point in going half way across the world to go to Starbucks, but they're dependable, I know that they have vegan options and they're convenient. I tried a matcha tea latte, which is very Japanese. I'm normally a fan of matcha tea but I found the latte so horribly, sickly sweet that I couldn't finish it. After that I stuck to regular soya lattes!

Me outside one of the numerous 7/11 shops



I'm sorry that my guide isn't very comprehensive but as you can tell from the lack of photographs I'm not the most observant of tourists! For those of who are interested, the third and final part of the Japan series will be about bento boxes, so stay tuned!