A couple of weeks ago we asked about tools, but what other items should you buy from Japan? Take the Converse sneaker, for example. In Japan, the Chucks Taylors are completely different than the ones you can buy in the US. In America, Converse is owned by Nike and come with the quality you would expect there. In Japan, the Converse trademark is owned by Itochu, a 168-year-old company that can be considered the Toyota of textiles. Itoshu-made Converses are made with stronger and more durable canvas, more smoothly grommed eyelets that are less likely to catch the 100 percent cotton (not polyester) laces, and have reinforced stitching in common stress points to prevent premature splitting. Also, they come in different colors.
There’s a reason why tourists bring empty suitcases to Japan. You can fill them up with car parts, selvidge denim jeans, Japan-pressed vinyl records, Biore sunscreen, limited edition Tomica, and so on.
What non-car goods should you buy from Japan?
The most entertaining comment by next week will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What’s your favorite factory exterior/interior color combo on a Japanese car?“.
Several answers chose colors for nostalgic reasons, and we can’t blame you. Jonathan P. chose a rather ordinary car, an early 90s Toyota Camry or Honda Accord in white, but with a burgundy interior that was so “of the era”. We are with dankan as big fans of 90s aquamarine, though we can’t remember a tan interior paired with any. If you do, please let us know! Negishi no Keibajo‘s San Marino Red over black isn’t particularly rare but it was on seemingly every Honda in the 90s.
daniel likes the opposite, the classic black over red is more tied to the 60s but has been used on many cars over the decades. For a combo that seems to have all but died out, there’s blue on blue. That looks good on everything from Toyota Crowns, as suggested by TheJWT, to the Acura NSX in Long Beach Blue, as recommended by Alan.
The category that received the most answers was roadsters. Specifically, the Mazda Roadster, which had so many famous color combos: Sammy B‘s BRG over tan, Taylor C.‘s excellent Eunos Roadster RS Limited in Montego Blue over black with Recaro RZ seats with the yellow Kevlar backing, or Land Ark‘s 2021 Miata in Soul Red with white seats.
There are many great non-Miata combinations as well, including Franxou‘s white over red Honda S600 or Ian G‘s Toyota MR2 Spyder in Phantom Gray Pearl with a red top and interior. All are terrific and classy, but for his unexpected direction the winner this week is 88TSI_Rob, whose pick calls out for a good time:
For me if you enjoy JNCs, you have to at least appreciate the Honda Beat. In its iconic Carnival yellow over that graphite/black colored interior with zebra striped seats and floor mats, the car just screams “Let’s have fun!”.
Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!
Not necessarily buy to bring back, but we ate everything possible. Chirashi, bento, tonkatsu, ramen, more ramen with torched pork belly, spam fried rice, tempura galore, gyoza, karage and rice with tea, onigiri from 7-Eleven / FamilyMart, the desserts.
When it was time to come home, we sure loaded up the suitcases with all the legal snacks we could bring back. Lots of crunchy savory snacks for sure.
Big one seems to be Japanese snacks. In general, anything from Don Quijote would quench the thirst for those obsessed with Japanese goods.
If not, it is definitely medication – pills, patches, ointments, supplements, powder, lotion and so forth for ailments you didn’t know existed. All of which you can find at….Don Quijote.
Street wear items from Japan used to be huge but thanks to internet and many other secondary sales channel, they are not worth taking up the luggage space now.
Adult entertainment related goods are top notch too.
No trip to Japan is complete without bringing back some bottles of Pocari Sweat for friends and family. No, it’s not the actual sweat from the back of a Pocari (some say it’s a distant cousin of the North American Nauga which was known for its hides, legend has it the Pocari lives on the Eastern slopes of Mt. Fuji), but once you get over the name, it’s a fairly refreshing/replenishing drink akin to Gatorade but without the “fruity” flavors or fluorescent colors. A slightly slick mouthfeel, a translucent yet vaguely hazy body, with a taste somewhat difficult to describe but more or less neutral, it does the job without actually having to try to first find, then mount and attempt to lick the skin on the back of a mythical beast to get enough of that sweet, sweet liquid to quench your inner thirst.
Pocari Sweat, drink a liter today! (available in handy single drink sizes to sixers to full multi-liter jugs of the stuff at most any convenience store in Japan.)
THIS!
Although I’m sad its so pricey here in The States. My high school sports team did have a sponsorship program with them, so some of us were able to get Pocari during practice instead of the regular Gatorade other schools had.
Like cars, Japanese cameras are well made, reliable, and considerably less expensive than their European counterparts. I recently bought a vintage Nikon SLR as I wanted to get back into film photography. It’s over 45 years old and everything works very well. Meter is still accurate and it takes beautiful photos with the vintage lenses I’ve collected for it.
Tomica and car-themed gashapon models are my quarry when I visit Japan. Although it’s largely about the cars, it’s not JUST about the cars… it’s about having fun with my like-minded friends. It’s about the train and cab ride(s) to the shops and back. It’s about hunting in the shops and discovering that one item that you swear wasn’t in that cabinet you’d already looked at three times. It’s about soaking in the atmosphere. It’s about the rope burns from the handles of your heavy Ikea bag when you’ve filled it with who knows what. it’s being overwhelmed in your pocket-sized hotel room as you try to pack and organize what you’ve bought too much of. It’s about discovering new things, going new places, and making those items part of an endlessly memorable trip abroad. And the advantageous yen/dollar relationship helps immensely!
Genmaicha Tea.
No trip to Japan is complete for me without bringing home a bulk box of Black Thunder candy bars and a stack of vinyl records
Kit-Kats. The Japanese have more flavors and they are delicious. They have so many but among the ones I’ve tried are matcha, matcha tea, green tea, strawberry, strawberry milk, Sakura Mochi (cherry blossom/sticky rice), banana, sweet potato and my all time fave… Wheat! I love when I can find them at my local Asian supermarket.
In Orlando where I used to live, I would get some at this annual Mazda meet at the local dealership that was also a MX-5 Cup race viewing party. They had all the flavors, bruh!
There was a time when it was all about the Tomica, and all about the Kit-Kats, and numerous other souvenirs, and while those are still part of each and every visit to Japan, the thing I that I come home with and cherish the most, are the memories.
The Made in Japan watches are better quality than the models sold in US. I’m a fan of Casio and G-shocks, but I also just bought my first Made in Japan Seiko. A coworker just got a Grand Seiko watch from Japan. Nippon Made Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66 for weekend/driving shoes. JDM music CDs are better quality and usually come with bonus tracks. JDM kitchen appliances from Panasonic and Zojirushi. Audio equipment from Yamaha. Bike parts from Nitto, Sugino, Izumi chain, Tange Seiki, Minoura, CatEye,…etc. For diecast I’d get some Hobby Japan, Ebbro, and Ignition Model cars. For RC cars there’s Tamiya, Yokomo, and Kyosho.
Japan has its own competitor to Converse that is said to be of much better quality. The brand is called Moonstar Shoes, and they have a line called Shoes Like Pottery, so-called because it undergoes a “true” vulcanization process which involves baking in a kiln-like structure. I’ve looked into ordering some cuz I like Chucks, but they can be kinda flimsy.
I’ve not had the chance to go to Japan yet, but I would probably buy vintage vinyl kaiju toys. I would probably get one or two and then be out of money! It would be cool to be able to buy a rare Jumbo Machinder like some of the weird enemies of Great Mazinga that were only released in Japan. Again, I would be out of money just purchasing one of those, if I could even afford it. Maybe an older Mach Baron vinyl would be affordable?
Runners-up would be indy manga that you couldn’t otherwise buy elsewhere. I’ve discovered that there is a US-Canadian press, called Glacier Bay Books, that is releasing lots of obscure indy manga, so even that is something I might not have to go to Japan to buy.
On the question as to whether there was a 90s JNC that was aquamarine with a tan interior — my imagination went to the early-to-mid-90s Toyota MR2. I don’t know if that generation of MR2 had tan interiors, but when I think of that as a 90s combo, I know that you could get a SN95 Mustang Cobra in Pacific Green (a blue-green color) with a tan leather interior. In my experience as a graphic designer, one person’s teal is one person’s aquamarine is one person’s “Pacific Green” is one person’s… “dark mint”? I’ve heard colors categorized and labelled lots of different ways.
You could get the same color combo, Pacific Green with tan but in velour on an Escort LX which was a Mazda with better rustproofing and a hatchback (or wagon).
It’s a bit ironic that you mention that — I had a mid-90s Escort wagon in Pacific Green with a tan interior and I only got rid of it because it failed to pass my state’s safety inspection due to the rear shock towers showing signs of fatal rust. Granted that was in 2013 or so… So, I guess it made it 20 years!
Tools. This has been discussed on JNC before, but even mid-tier Japanese tools are often of equal quality to high-end American and European brands in terms of fit, finish, ergonomics, durability, and functionality, and for a fraction of the cost (leather handles and titanium wrenches excluded).
I’m also a big fan of JNH – Japanese Nostalgic HiFi. It shares a lot of characteristics with JNCs; a good vintage Onkyo Integra amp or Nakamichi tape deck will be built to a standard, not a price. It will be user-friendly, dependable, approachable, unpretentious – and most importantly, it will sound amazing and perform at a level equivalent to much more expensive and much less practical boutique brands from the U.S. and Europe.
If not shopping for cars and parts, then the next logical thing is car models of course! Japan is a mecca for vintage plastic and ultra rare resin miniatures of your favorite classics.
The hobby is still strong there and enjoys support from several manufactures of not only kits, but supplies, tools and accessories for your modeling madness.
Clothes; my nihonsei genes need all those sizes that are off the left side of American clothes & shoe racks. Beyond that, any weird tool accessory that you can’t find in the states.
Casio watches, some Korg synthesizers maybe a certain Roland drum machine.
While everyone else seems to have good, practical suggestions, when I took my daughter back to Japan last summer to see family for the first time since prior to the pandemic, we took an empty suitcase back solely for Kyushu Shoyu potato chips. It’s a flavour that you literally cannot find on Honshu (we tried, a LOT) and is just so much better than the usual Calbee consumé or pizza flavours. She loves them like no other, so when we were coming back we had to explain why there was one normal suitcase full of clothes, and one very large suitcase with an assortment of knick knacks and 15 bags of potato chips…
I regret nothing.
My partner rolls her eyes when I start eating potato chips with nori. It reminds me of Ichiro arriving in Seattle when the whole dugout looked at him with the smell when he started munching on a bag of ika! Another funny work story. I was a pilot headed to Narita in the middle of the Pacific when we got a call from the Flight Attendants about a “strange burning smell”. I went back to the coach cabin where the smell was coming from & busted out laughing. The Flight Attendants might have gotten mad at me for the reaction: Somebody was munching on a bag of senbei!
JDM Casio and G-Shock watches are better quality. Made in Japan Seiko watch. A coworker got a Grand Seiko during Japan trip. Nippon Made Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66 shoes for driving. JDM music CDs are better quality and come with bonus tracks. Kitchen appliances from Panasonic and Zojurushi. Audio equipment from Technics and Yamaha. RC cars from Tamiya, Kyosho, and Yokomo. Diecast cars from Hobby Japan, Ebboro, Ignition Model, and Tomica. Toys from Bandai’s Soul of Chogokin or SH Monster Arts lines. Japanese bike parts from Nitto, Sugino, Izumi chain, Dia Compe, Cateye, Minoura, Tange Seiki…etc.
Sorry for repeat post. I didn’t see first post show up until a couple days later.
– A nice Uniqlo piece that you can only get in Japan, I got a beautiful coat
– Vinyl records
– Kit Kats (of course)
– a Retro Console
– a miniature Train
– a plushie
Kit Kat bars. The flavors you can’t get state side
Going by what Japanese goods I purchase the most of outside of cars and tools: Fashion. In particular, Japan makes the highest quality vintage American-style clothes.
why vintage high fashion of course!
Designer handbags, watches or whatever from Japan are generally in a good condition, genuine and relatively cheap.
7-Eleven and Family Mart sell prepackaged 2-pack pancakes which are phenomenal. They have the syrup and butter between each cake and when you microwave them it all melds together in a perfect mix. There is absolutely no reason for them not to exist in the States, but I haven’t been able to find them. Nearly every morning of my last trip was started off by those delectable pancakes.
I would expand my answer to any food at konbinis since the quality and experience is unrivaled at even the highest quality food stores in the US.