Just Hungry

1 - Very easy.

2 - There are several large Asian grocery places in town that carry pretty much everything.

3 - except fresh noodles as far as I know, Everything can be found. Grocery stores carry the standard Japanese items but not really good fresh fish. The best place for the fish and produce are the Asian markets.

4 - Nope.

5 - Phoenix, Az

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Hi- saw this and thought I'd post, and try to be helpful :-)

There's one specialty Japanese Supermarket in the City here, 'Little Tokyo' (near the law courts/Hilton Hotel side of the Central Market complex). It stocks dry ingredients as well as cold/pre prepared stuff like natto, croquettes, organic tofu, miso paste, preserved daikon, umeboshi, a small range of sake, and even shirataki (as well as my favourite Nat-chan orange drink and coffee boss, and a whole range of curry roux and snack foods, and some homewares and takoyaki pans).

There's 'Koreana Mart', also in the central market area. (it has a small selection of stuff like tea, mirin, and some sauces).

Basically, the only ingredient I've not been able to get here when cooking recipes from this site was demi glaze sauce (when trying to make Hayashi Rice).

Fresh daikon is also available from the 'Oriental Mart' (near the Grote Street end of the ChinaTown mall).

The three major supermarket chains here also have 'asian' food sections, with the usual instant dry noodles and sushi making ingredients (mirin, rice vinegar, soy sauce, seaweed..dashi stock, instant powdered miso, japanese mayonaise). I have also seen panko and Golden Curry mixes in some places.

Seafoods are available also from the market, I've seen fresh eel and mackeral recently.

Ah- I've typed too much!
I hope it will be of some use :-)

1. Very easy.
2. I can buy the basics in my town at the Chinese supermarkets or Daiso, or for that matter, even Safeway carries miso, mochiko, soba, nori, etc. To get to Mitsuwa, the Japanese supermarket, or Hankook, a Korean supermarket, I need to drive about 30 minutes, but that's not a big deal around here.I can get almost anything there. There are other Japanese grocery stores, including an organic market, if I want to drive just a little more. I can also buy produce at several year-round farmers' markets, including Japanese sweet potatoes, taro (I always forget the Japanese name), burdock, daikon, and kabocha.
3. Everything from freshly made local tofu to sashimi-grade fish to nattou to organic handmade pickles of all kinds to expensive Japanese matsutake to expensive Japanese apples and grapes that I don't see the point in buying when we have incredibly good cheap fresh local produce, haha.
4. I don't recall coming across anything yet that I couldn't find.
5. Fremont, CA (San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA).

--
http://www.readableblog.com (for English learners)
http://www.talktotheclouds.com (for teachers)

1 - 2. I live in Alexandria, VA. I can get very basic Japanese food items at, say, Whole Foods, which is 2 miles from I live. For the rest of my Japanese food, I have to travel about 30 -40 minutes by car to Super H, which is a large Asian (Korean owned) supermarket that has a large selection of Japanese food.

3. Non-Asian markets sell soy sauce, udon noodles, soba noodles, and panko. However, I have to go to the Asian market for the BIG bottles of soy sauce, somen noodles, dried shiitake mushrooms, sambal olek, ramen noodles, bonito flakes and fish cakes (before I became a vegetarian), mirin, and nori.

4. Sometimes. For example, I couldn't find the fried tofu age pockets for sushi.

5. Alexandria VA, right across the river from Washington, DC.

1. I'd say easy, though I don't use a ton of specialty ingredients.

2. My local natural foods coop (8 blocks from my house) has a good Japanese section. I also have a variety of Asian (mostly Vietnamese) groceries in my backyard that sometimes sell Japanese ingredients. Regular grocery stores have, probably, soy sauce, (expensive) sushi rice, nori, tofu, rice vinegar, that kind of thing.

3. What kinds of things can you get easily and locally?
Good soy sauce, nori and seaweeds, sushi rice, rice vinegar, umeboshi, pickled daikon radishes, tofu, good freshly sliced meats...everything I need, anyway - all carried by the coop. I can go to the Midtown Market 3 miles away and get live tilapia, raised here in MN, cleaned while I watch - costs about $4 per pound. ;)

4. No, though the unfamiliarity of them sometimes will give me pause. I still don't know what pickled radishes taste like (haven't been brave enough to buy/make).

5. Minneapolis, MN, USA

1. Easy
2. Yes. There is a Japanese market (Toyo Shokuhin) and a Korean market (S-Mart), both with good selections of Japanese ingredients. Also several large Chinese supermarkets with limited Japanese specialties.
3. Pretty much everything except certain specialty fresh vegetables and seafood (eg. miyoga, fresh sanma cause problems). Miso, umeboshi, konnyaku, bonito flakes, etc. are easy to find.
4. Only in the rare case where an unavailable item plays a major role.
5. Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

Hi Everybody! Here are my survey answers.
1 +2) I have an easy time getting some of the basics for Japanese cooking locally at larger size grocery stores.
3) These include things like soy sauce, Japanese rice, nori sheets, and basic meats and veg that are also used in western cooking. No decent fresh fish though.
I have to order things like katsuobushi, seaweed,furikake and niboshi. And some things like certain sauces and noodles are availiable here in the "fancy" stores, but are way overpriced, so I order those online. (By overpriced, I mean $8.98 for a small, 1.95 0z jar of furikake!!!)
4)Not having an ingredient to make a dish does'nt deter me much, unless I can't find, or there is no western substitute for it. I have an excellent book called "The Cooks Encyclopedia of Japanese Cooking" by Emi Kazuko and Yasuko Fukuoka - it has a huge glossary of ingredients and I use it often to find substitutes. Or sometimes I just wing and put in what I think will taste good!
5) I live in Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
I hope this helps!
Have a great day, all!

1) Easy
2) An excellent Japanese market called Tensuke Market. Market caters to Japanese population/travelers in town b/c of the Honda plant in Marysville, OH. Additionally, several large "general" Asian grocery stores around town.
3) At Tensuke, I can get pretty much anything: prepackaged stuff, bonito flakes, gobo, shiso, sushi-quality seafood, bento supplies, dried/refrigerated noodles, you name it. The only things missing that I'd really like are truly high quality soy sauces and good fresh noodles
4) Never
5) Columbus, Ohio USA

PS: Columbus has a small but very high quality selection of Japanese restaurants: Kihachi pulls out all the stops with fresh wasabi, toro (although I'm having doubts after reading Bottomfeeders), etc...

1. How easy is it for you to get Japanese ingredients without having to resort to extraordinary measures?

Surprisingly easy, given that Columbus is neither a particularly large city, or a particularly young and edgy one. Apparently we have a large Asian population?

2. Can you get Japanese ingredients locally, and if so, where?

There are a lot of things in the 'international' section of regular supermarkets. There is also a wide variety of Asian groceries, some more Japanese-focused than others.

3. What kinds of things can you get easily and locally?

Soy sauce, rice vinegar, some selection of noodles, wasabi, small bags of sushi rice, nori, dried mushrooms, edamame (sometimes), fresh ginger, sake, limited tofu selection, and pre-made foods (cup noodles, pocky...) are common in regular groceries. I've found dashi supplies (though I may have gotten the wrong kind of konbu as it did not turn out well) and bulk rice at the asian markets. They also have a pretty large selection of fresh vegetables and fish.

A big problem for me is I'm shy and not Japanese, and the asian markets have very limited labeling in english, so it is hard for me to tell what there is. I've had trouble finding Aburaage, mirin, dashi powder, and okonomiyaki sauce, simply because I couldn't tell enough from the label whether what they had was what I wanted or not. I am fairly sure most of the ingredients you've mentioned here are available, I just have not looked for them.

4. Does the unavailability of ingredients that are mentioned in Japanese cookbooks or websites deter you from trying a recipe?

Some, mostly when they require a specific pre-made sauce. It probably deters me from liking the recipes more, as I substitute wildly in all my cooking, sometimes to poor effect.

1. Some basic/colonial stuff is fairly easy, but they are generally expensive. But even a special type of soy sauce or the right noodles can become a challenge.

2. Yes.
I only know of one store that carry japanese-only products. Its small and offer a small selection of 1-3 brands of each product. The store covers all the basic cupboard stuff, a small selection of drinks and frozen premade food.
Else there are some sushi restaurants also selling japanese foodstuff, but all related to sushi.
Else you will have to inspect the shelves in other asian supermarkets. (Thai and chinese dominate here).

3. Tea, nori, rice, ricevinegar, soy sauce, dry noodletypes. Popular candy like pocky. Sushi-related stuff you can get in normal supermarkets. other stuff go to asian supermarkets and try your luck.

4. Yes, especially fresh vegestables, and more unique products are hard to get.

5. Denmark, north of Copenhagen.

I don't have much trouble getting most Japanese ingredients. Many are now sold in the regular grocery store, and we have a great Asian market about 12 miles away. It just gets confusing there for a non-Asian reader, because they have versions of soy sauce from every possible place, and they're spread all over the store! So you think you passed the rice aisle, and then you come to another rice aisle! The same market has a fish counter, and it appears to be pretty darn fresh because most of the fish are swimming in tanks! They also have a very nice produce section, with all the "normal" veggies and produce, and then all the Asian ones that you'd never see in another store. Very reasonably priced, too.
I've never put off trying a recipe because I couldn't find the ingredients; more like I'm not quite confident I could pull off the technique!
I live in South Jersey, about 30 minutes outside of Philadelphia, USA.

Seemed that Australians are the minorities here (I am not exactly one, but been living here for sometime ^^ )
In Sydney there are a number of Asian grocery stores across the city. There's 2 close to where I live (Kingsford - Eastern Suburb)
1. Hidaka
2. Randwick Oriental
Sometimes the stuffs they have seemed to vary from time to time depending on the stockings. Now I tend to buy when I saw something that I like.
There's another one in City, I think it's somewhere in World Square beside Coles. I don't know the name but it seemed to have more varieties. I think there is another one in Maroubra Junction, but figured it's a bit more expensive that those in Kingsford (I mean for the same stuffs).
Hope this helps to those still finding out Japanese stuffs around Sydney ^0^

Conanchibi

1. Pretty easy. There is nowhere near where I live, but there is a Japanese grocery store near where I work.
2. Yes - the aforementioned grocery store, and a couple of other general Asian supermarkets. A select few things (soy sauce, soba, nori etc) I can get from my all-purpose supermarket.
3. Anything dried, frozen, canned or pickled. There is a good fishmonger near me, so fresh fish is not a problem. The only things I can't get are fresh vegetables and herbs. And mentaiko. Sad.
4. Not usually - as the only thing I can't get easily are fresh herbs and veggies, I usually just substitute with a similar ingredient. There are very few recipes I've turned away from due to ingredients. Having said that though, when I am in Japan, the dishes I seek out are the ones that I can't replicate exactly at home, which often means vegetable dishes.
5. Perth, Western Australia.

1. How easy is it for you to get Japanese ingredients without having to resort to extraordinary measures?
Very hard. There are no asian stores in my area, the closest is an hours drive away.

2. Can you get Japanese ingredients locally, and if so, where?
No.
3. What kinds of Japanese ingredients can you get easily and locally?
The Wal-mart in my town sells pocky (only chocolate and strawberry -cries-), nori for sushi, and basics like soy sauce. That's it.

4. Does the unavailability of ingredients that are mentioned in Japanese cookbooks or websites deter you from trying a recipe?
Yes.

5. Where are you located?
Toccoa, Georgia, USA

1. How easy is it for you to get Japanese ingredients without having to resort to extraordinary measures?

quite easy - Asian groceries within 40km radius

2. Can you get Japanese ingredients locally, and if so, where?

Very small selection of Asian food in local supermarkets

3. What kinds of things can you get easily and locally?

Locally: noodles, soy sauce, nori, rice, fish
Not locally : rice vinegar, really fresh tuna, mirin, miso, furikake, wasabi, bonito flakes, tempura mix,...

But I'm very lucky to have some Japanese friends over every year or so and they bring good stuff for me :)
And I grow my own mizuna, shiso, shungiku,...

4. Does the unavailability of ingredients that are mentioned in Japanese cookbooks or websites deter you from trying a recipe?

Not at all...

5. Where do you live?

Bornem (small town), Belgium