enderzero 0 Posted April 26, 2003 Share Posted April 26, 2003 Whoa damn! I have been living in Hiro-o for 3 weeks now and I just today discovered the National Azabu Supermarket. Holy Toledo! This place has everything I thought I would never find in Japan. It would blow your mind Ben - Garden burgers, peanut butter (American brands), big containers of salsa, chips, taco seasoning, American chewy candy, every flavor of soup, Ranch Dressing (! impossible to find in Japan). They had American pizzas, big bulk packages of hamburgers, baked beans, lots of cereals, even American brands of house products (including air fresheners) in bulk sizes. It's like the home buyers club store. Prices ranged from normal price to a couple dollars more - way cheaper than mail order. Alas, although the beer section was good, they did not have any American micros. I did pick up some Grolsh Amber Ale though. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted April 26, 2003 Share Posted April 26, 2003 oh yeah, it is great for some western food. even better for American food;). I have been trying to pluck up the energy to make the journey. Link to post Share on other sites
badmigraine 0 Posted April 26, 2003 Share Posted April 26, 2003 Ender, you'll stumble on other places in Tokyo where you can get all that stuff and more, too. Your problem will change from "unable to find what I want" to "unable to afford all the things I found and now Must Have..." Check out the grocery store underneath Shibuya Station "Tokyo Food Show". There's a warren of stores down there, but for your reference this is the one located underneath the road separating the Mark City complex from Shibuya Station (look for the suspended glass bridge walkway...under the road below that). They have some stuff National Azabu doesn't, and it's pretty convenient being right under Shibs Stn. I believe there is one under Shinagawa Stn. too. Have you tried Kinokuniya Market in Omotesando? That's another place to get all that stuff and they have some US microbrews up in the wine shop on the 2nd floor. Finally, check out Don Quixote in Shibuya, across from the Tokyu Dept. store "honten" ("main bldg."). In the back part of their grocery section they often have miscellaneous US and European groceries for CHEAP. It's hit or miss, but worth a look. Even if you can't find your groceries, you can stare at all the gorgeous Shibuya girls doing their thing. If you want to find a nice selection of good beers, including some US micros, check out the 2-story liquor shop near the Udagawa-cho Kouban in Shibuya. That is the round-shaped police box near that game center sort of around the Tokyu Hands area. The entrance to the liquor store is across the street from the "Two Dogs" restaurant ("Two Dogs" being that lemon-flavored malt beverage from Oz). You may find your pocketbook can't afford a regular supply of US micros. You may want to get used to drinking equally great, often better beers from places like Oz, England, etc. and try some of the better Japanese micros. You can even get a decent amber at all Tengu (cheapo chain izakayas). If you are truly interested in drinking good beers in Tokyo, then you need to check out this amazing link full of all the info anyone could possibly need to know about craft, micro and foreign beers in Tokyo. Try a night out with a great US-style burger and US-style micros at the T.Y. Harbor Brewery near Shinagawa Stn...it's exactly like a US brewpub and you can sit out on the dock watching the boats go by. It's near Mogski's company so you may find him there working on the OLs... Probably the best and most delicious beer night out in Tokyo is to be had at the Popeye Beer Club near Ryogoku Stn. on the Sobu Line (where the Sumo wrestling happens). Read this, then just try to tell me you aren't salivating: "The largest selection of Japanese microbrews in the world, many of them served on tap. (They even have "tasting sets" so you can try a few at a time.) They also have Belgian beers and "Hair of the Dog" from Portland (considered to be one of America's finest beers) on tap. The food is above average, and sometimes inspired (they bill themselves a "Western-style izakaya"), but the main draw seems to be the beer." YES!!!!! MMMMMM, BEEEER!! Link to post Share on other sites
kintaro 0 Posted April 26, 2003 Share Posted April 26, 2003 check out the "Foreign Buyers' Club" at www.fbcusa.com/public2/search.php3. They have tons of good stuff to order and quiet often will ship it to you for free. They are located in Kobe and once you join the club they send you emails about their weekly specials. I think you have to pay 1000 yen or so to join the club though. Link to post Share on other sites
r45 4 Posted April 26, 2003 Share Posted April 26, 2003 Don't have quite the same opportunities here in Hokkaidoland. There are benefits of being here though too! Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted April 26, 2003 Share Posted April 26, 2003 Got a place like that in Umeda. check that its not that big and pricy. It is good when you want something from back home. I try to stay clear of the burgers. What I miss is the cheap block of cheddar chesse. Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted April 26, 2003 Share Posted April 26, 2003 I've tried a lot of US 'microbrews' (I hate that expression too), and haven't been stunned by any of them. Is there any really great beer brewed in the States? Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted April 26, 2003 Share Posted April 26, 2003 Kootney pale ale out of BC canada is a nice one. To be honest I have never drank a good beer from america. Bud is like 3 % achool in the states and tastes like piss. Micro brew is something that started in Canada 20 years ago. Link to post Share on other sites
badmigraine 0 Posted April 27, 2003 Share Posted April 27, 2003 I beg to differ..."microbrews" is an artificial concept develop to contrast beers with mass-produced, national peewater lagers like Bud, Michelob, Pabst, Coors, Miller etc. In Europe, where beer is at its greatest, they don't really "get" the concept of microbrews...because it has always been that way over there. Lots of local breweries and famous local beers. Thousands of them, actually. There are plenty of great beers in the US but you have to live here to find out about them. Just like you have to live in Germany, say, to find out about all the great local German beers. This is what I call a "happy problem"... FYI in Japan the national brewers brought about a law change years ago required a brewer to make some huge godawful amount of beer each year in order to qualify for the license to do so. This effectively killed the "craft brew" or "microbrew" maker market. A few years ago the minimum requirement was decreased, and we saw a micro-brew boom in Japan. There was a market correction and now you see a few good ones here and there. I love beer! But I won't drink the national peewater lagers of any place, even if they're free. Well maybe one or two if they are free, but if I am buying, I spend on what I want! YEAH!! MMMMMm, BEER! Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted April 27, 2003 Share Posted April 27, 2003 Didn't Benjamin Franklin (that evil terrorist!) once say that the evidence that God meant man to be happy was beer? That suggests to me that the US used to know how to make beer, or he had a good stash of the English. I've been to both Germany and the US, and I found that I could get wonderful beer everywhere, in bars or supermarkets in Germany, while in the US, I could find it nowhere. Certainly there was evidence of people trying very hard to come up with something suitable in the US, but while it was very pleasant, it was never great. I find the same to be largely the case with ji-biru in Japan too. (There's an indepedent brewer in nearby Tateshina, but as they charge Y1,000 for one small bottle of their brew, I won't be trying it soon.) Link to post Share on other sites
badmigraine 0 Posted April 28, 2003 Share Posted April 28, 2003 Ocean, as a Brit you are spoiled when it comes to finding good beer without really having to try. You hit the nail on the head. It's not easy to find the Good Stuff here. But that doesn't mean there is no Good Stuff. I think a combination of factors such as the huge geographical size of the US, the established and heavy volume-based trucking distribution system that favors giant crateloads of guaranteed peewater sales of Bud and Coors etc., the different liquor license laws in each state, and the fiscal/production volume impossibility of a local brewer mounting a national sales, marketing and distribution campaign... I left here in '95, returned in '02...things have changed for the better, that's for sure. But it is still not like Europe, where getting a good beer is as easy as falling out of trees. There are a few nationally distributed "local" type beers, such as Red Hook, Sierra Nevada and Samuel Adams, but those are nothing super-special and may not be for everybody. A lot of the bottled Red Hook and Sierra Nevada that I drink here in Michigan is stale. It has languished on hot shelves for months, even a year or more...drinking Sierra Nevada Pale Ale as a succulent, fresh draft brew in Nevada during my Tahoe trip, and then coming back here to the bottled stuff that tasted brackish and plain, was a true disappointment. I have better luck with bottles of Coopers, from Oz. Much fresher. Here in the US, you have to know where to look. The type of place to find the Good Stuff changes depending on the state. Out west it is pretty easy to find a lot of local and good beers in liquor stores and a few grocery chains. You can also look up brewpubs and microbreweries and go round there to drink it draft or buy their bottles. It's hit or miss but you can find some really good beers and/or pick a few reliable tasty types that you can use as everyday drinkers. I had this great Moose Drool beer out in Big Sky, Montana that would have been a standby for me if I lived in that state. Pete's Headstrong Ale was another good one. Out east, it is a different ballgame. Many eastern states have odd liquor laws...in Pennsylvania, for example, the supermarkets can't sell beer and wine. How stupid. New York City's Brooklyn Brewery makes some super beers, but they are not distributed here in Michigan...I could buy them in Shibuya, but not Detroit. Go figure... I e-mailed to ask why, and they sent me a baseball cap. Here in the upper midwest, grocery stores and regular liquor stores normally don't have a good selection of this stuff. You are better off finding a specialty wine shop...they usually stock a few good local beers and the bottles are usually fresh because there is a good turnover. The "Local Color" brewpub is only a 7 minute drive from my house. They have a lager, amber, stout, hefeweise and pilsner all year long, plus a changing selection of seasonal beers. They also make their own blueberry vodka and lemon vodka...it's a fun place to hang out, good food, outdoor seating in summer, etc. My favorite wine shop here stocks a number of good local brews such as a lineup of good ones from Bell's and also Great Lakes Brewing Co. and the Motor City ales. None of these would ever be mass-exported out of Michigan, and the same is true of local beers in other states. I've lived in London, England; Angers, France; Fribourg, Switzerland; near Genova, Italy; and spent several months working and traveling in Germany. I didn't make a big study of it, but of all the excellent beers I drank in Europe, I'd have to say that my everyday drinker would be a pint of bitter in an English public house. Ocean, what do you like, and what do you miss drinking? Link to post Share on other sites
enderzero 0 Posted April 28, 2003 Author Share Posted April 28, 2003 Thanks for all the helpful tips on finding the goods in Tokyo guys. As for good beer in the states...you better believe it exists! There are tons of microbreweries all up and down the Westcoast. Some of the bigger and better ones are Redhook (from Seattle so never stale there), Pyramid, Deschutes, New Belgium and many other smaller gems. In Seattle at least, it is shocking to walk into a bar with less than 5 beers on tap and 10-15 is more common. MMMMMM, BEEEER!! Anyone want to plan something at one of these place badmigs mentioned? Mogs? Goemon? Danz? db? Link to post Share on other sites
Goemon 0 Posted April 28, 2003 Share Posted April 28, 2003 I'm down for the field trip. I've been to TY Harbor before, but not the other places bm mentioned. Wouldn't mind hitting a Belgian beer bar sometime too, like Belgo or Brussels. And I see now that Billy Barew's Beer Bar offers one of my all-time favorites: Ayinger Celebrator! Link to post Share on other sites
Will Lee 0 Posted April 29, 2003 Share Posted April 29, 2003 Enderzero, you live in Hiroo and seem to go boarding anytime you want...you MUST have a sugar mama! Link to post Share on other sites
echineko 1 Posted April 29, 2003 Share Posted April 29, 2003 sugar mama?? what is it? Link to post Share on other sites
enderzero 0 Posted April 29, 2003 Author Share Posted April 29, 2003 I just moved to Hiro-o from Nagano a few weeks ago Yaro - but now I am out of there too. Living with some cranky banker a little outside of the center of things now. Echineko - send me a bank statement and some 5x7s and maybe you can find out too. Link to post Share on other sites
oo 1 Posted April 29, 2003 Share Posted April 29, 2003 Some cranky banker? A friend of ours perchance? Link to post Share on other sites
Markie 0 Posted April 29, 2003 Share Posted April 29, 2003 Hey, Chizuman, if a guy lets you stay at his place for free, does that count as a "sugar-daddy"? Link to post Share on other sites
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