Tesco Gives Up On Japan

[Samurai_Jerk]

Hah I almost edited that cause I knew someone would reply about it, I agree with her, the cabinets are full and we'd use it like a few times a year. If I really thought we needed it I'd manipulate her into thinking the same, as any good husband does.

Get rid of the rice cooker (no not your wife). Japanese people need to learn how to make rice the old fashioned way again.

BTW, sounds like you aren't much of a cook

[nikoneko]

Okay now you're hitting where it hurts. I can hold my own thank you very much! Wasn't a cook at all before I came here but have learned just about anything mexican, (real) bbq, and anything else I get cravings for. Most recent was gyros, which are much more of a bitch than they would seem, but damn tasty.

The 'rice cooker' does cook rice the old way btw.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Okay now you're hitting where it hurts. I can hold my own thank you very much! Wasn't a cook at all before I came here but have learned just about anything mexican, (real) bbq, and anything else I get cravings for. Most recent was gyros, which are much more of a bitch than they would seem, but damn tasty.

The 'rice cooker' does cook rice the old way btw.

Did you actually spit roast the meat for the gyro (kebab to you filthy limeys)? Spit roasting isn't easy at all

[Doctor Stop]

Spit roasting isn't easy at all

It all depends on how much spit you have handy.

[Taro Toporific]

pinto beans, water, salt, lard & emersion blender

Yeah, and just try to buy pinto beans in Japan for less than the price of meat/kg.

[6810]

Yeah, and just try to buy pinto beans in Japan for less than the price of meat/kg.

Beans is beans, all you gotta do is substitute them out. Indian retailers/suupaas sell beans by the kg for fair prices!

[Taro Toporific]

Beans is beans, all you gotta do is substitute them out. Indian retailers/suupaas sell beans by the kg for fair prices!

Yeah, yeah, and Basmati rice = Japanese rice.

[nikoneko]

Did you actually spit roast the meat for the gyro (kebab to you filthy limeys)? Spit roasting isn't easy at all

No I only ever do a couple lbs of meat at a time, so you just cook it like a meat loaf. Nothing about them is really hard but they are a bit of pain in the ass. Track down lamb (though last time I just did beef and that was fine), blender the meat in order to get the right texture (and cleaning it up sucks), drain the yogurt, make decent pita bread from scratch, etc etc..

[nikoneko]

Yeah, and just try to buy pinto beans in Japan for less than the price of meat/kg.

I got some at a decent price at FBC a while back. Don't know if they have them online though this was at their actual shop here in Kobe.

[Netherlander]

[Dreamy_Peach]

Went today to stock up on tea bags as I can't stand the Lipton stuff that passes for tea here.

There really is nothing to differentiate it from a conbeni. They don't even sell baked beans anymore; just some tesco branded salmon (!?). Reasons to shop there diminish each time I go. Great shame. Bored as hell from the fare in my local supermarket. The range of products is just extremely limited. They sell pasta. Want something more adventurous, then have to go to about 5 other different shops. Simply no time for that stuff.

Go to any other large scale supermarket in Asia like in Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia etc and you'll see both domestic and international products. Japan is just too much about Japan all the time.

So much potential to liven up the supermarket system here. Failed miserably.

[Netherlander]

Reasons to shop there diminish each time I go.

Exactly! That's a good explanation of how I felt too. How every time I go there the selection of foreign products diminishes. I guess it depends on where you live, but I am able to get more and more foreign products at the local supermarket around my house recently. However with the boom in all things Korean lately, my wife is able to get lots of Korean food anywhere. Personally I can't take eating Bibinba with kimchi twice a week though.

[Mulboyne]

...Go to any other large scale supermarket in Asia like in Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia etc and you'll see both domestic and international products. Japan is just too much about Japan all the time...

The question is why foreign retailers do that in Japan. Either they can't find sufficient demand for imported goods or can't make a decent margin on them. Distribution costs remain high so the latter will be a significant factor.

Tesco never really offered much in the way of imports and that's probably down to not having sufficient scale. Peacock stores have a wider selection of Waitrose products but you have to pay through the nose.

[damn name]

Another factor may be that those imported goods may not sent through their own distribution system, but only direct from the maker. The foreign makers/distributors have minimum size shipments that are beyond the market for a single store, but Costco doesn't seem to have any distribution inside Japan.

Dead stock is not replenished from excess stock in other stores. Imported perishable goods look like they could be piling up substantial loses. Store A is out of perishable product X and store B has a 3 months stock of product X about to expire. Any normal company would move it around to move the stock, but they seem to have a bunch of Coligny's working there.