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Best places to buy plant-based, organic and healthy food in Japan

7 Comments
By cinnamonellie, grape Japan

Buying plant-based or organic food in Japan can be quite a challenge especially if you don’t know Japanese that well and are not familiar with the ingredients written on the package.

Finding places that sell natural food is quite difficult and depending on the area you live in, the options can be quite limited.

In this article, I will introduce you to a few supermarkets and websites where you can find healthier food options:

Bio c’Bon ビオセボン

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I came across this organic supermarket at the beginning of summer when I was going to the office and I got off Meiji Jingu Mae Station instead of Harajuku Station.

You can easily spot it as soon as you get down by the stairs, right next to Starbucks.

It is inside the station and I was thinking of getting something for lunch, so when I saw organic, I knew this supermarket was for me, so I entered to see what they’ve got.

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There were a lot of vegan options, too, and many natural foods. Most had ingredients written in English, as well, and for the vegan food, salads, you could see written “Vegan” on the package.

They also have an organic coffee where you can add soy milk to it and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I found Oat milk inside the store!

I have been looking for oat milk in Japan for so long and couldn’t find it in any stores I went, not even online, so on my way back home, I passed by the store again and bought two packages of oat milk(it was the last two, so I was lucky).

They have a delicious selection of food/beverages and what caught my attention the first time I got in was the vegan salad and a bottle that said kombucha on it, but it had a red color, so it made me a bit confused at first.

Besides the red one (that said mix berries), there were also two more options (pomegranate & apples and ginger & lime). Kombucha is a tea known for its health benefits and has been very popular worldwide. I thought that it is an interesting combination, so I bought the mixed berry kombucha. After trying it, I was surprised to discover how refreshing it was and how it tasted nothing like the kombucha I knew. It was more like a very refreshing berry lemonade; I dare to say. I haven’t tried the other flavors yet, but next time I go, I will surely give it a try.

Official Instagram Page

Natural Lawson

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You can find Natural Lawson in many places in Japan and it is a good option for healthy foods, also has some gluten-free, plant-based options of snacks, so I recommend giving it a try.

There is also a Natural Lawson small corner in the normal Lawson konbini and you can easily spot the natural Lawson mark on the products, so it is easier to differentiate the products from the normal ones.

I love the Konnyaku chips and mixed nuts from Natural Lawson, but they have so much more healthy choices, therefore I recommend giving it a try.

Kaldi Farm

Kaldi Farm is an international shop, so like many other international stores (such as Jupiter and so on), they have quite a few healthy and organic snacks to choose from.

Farmers Markets

For organic food, nothing is better than the local markets where you can buy delicious natural food and also help support the smaller communities of farmers in Japan.

Besides the above, you can also check out Iherb or Natural House, which are two of the most known online healthy stores and have a wide variety of healthy choices for gluten-free people, for those who prefer organic food, for those who are vegan, or vegetarian, etc.

Read more stories from grape Japan.

-- Black Thunder releases Apple Pie and Custard flavor chocolate for fall

-- Where to eat vegan in Kamakura: Top three restaurant recommendations

-- American Struggles to Live Solely Off Tokyo’s Vending Machines for 24 Hours

© grape Japan

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

7 Comments
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Salad and mixed nuts as examples of food veggies and vegans can buy. Is this the 1970s?

Neither strikes me as a compelling reason to go out of your way to a health food store. I'm sure will have more advanced things on their shelves. Was the author in there more than five minutes?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I guess if the Japanese ate organic foods they would live to 150 years, instead of 100. Who s going to pay the pensions?

Not anymore, the newer generation in Japan is getting bigger and wider and diabetes are on the rise including heart disease and alcoholism due to the foods they eat today. Maybe 100 years ago the food was a lot better as wetstern influnce wasn't there at as much and minus the Fukushima meltdowns. Most of us in Japan will be luckly to live pass 70 maybe?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Give up, it’s nearly impossible if you’re looking for healthy meals. If you have the money to spend at Bio C’Bon, lucky you, other than that, Kaldi’s, “natural” Lawson, etc, just won’t cut it. Healthy food is scarce in Japan. The standard is “there are vegetables in it, so it’s healthy”.

If you’re looking for food convenience, though, it’s your paradise!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Healthy food is scarce in Japan.

I really don't think the average Japanese know what 'healthy' food means.

The longer-than-average life span is a bit of a puzzler then, isn’t it.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Only for those with full pockets and for really healthy eaters, it's just on occasions.

SouthEast and West Asian Village, it's at everybody's home garden.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Over-priced. It's great oat milk is available, if you can find it. A shame it's more than double than price compared to my home country.

I really don't think the average Japanese know what 'healthy' food means. This word is thrown at anything just for marketing purposes. I remember the cafeteria at my old workplace - they had several set lunches one of which was called 'Healthy set'. My colleague said, Does that mean the other set lunches are unhealthy?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Many people still associate plant-based food with health. I'm moving towards a carnivore diet, gradually cutting out plants.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

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