A trip to my local supermarket [Japan]

[igirisujin]

Good morning 🙂

I thought some people might be interested in this topic. This is my local supermarket, about 1km from my home. It's a large, cheaper-end 'we-sell-just-about-anything' kind of place called Nishimuta.

I went this morning to pick up a few bits to cook a roast for my Japanese mother-in-law tonight, and while I was there I thought I'd take a couple of pics of the aquarium-related stuff that's available there. It's worth mentioning that I am many hundreds of KMs from a major city, in a town of 30,000. I can't imagine Tesco stocking much of this anytime soon...!

Starting with food. There is a huge variety of food, particularly for goldfish and Medaka. Medaka (rice fish?) are very common here, and often kept in large bowls outdoors with lilies and floating plants.





Next, onto filters. HOB filters are very popular it seems, and there are many types and their replacement media here. A few air pumps and smaller internal filters too.



I'm not sure whether I caught it here, but there are some simple CO2 kits, CO2 tablets, airstones and aeration bits and pieces.



A few plastic plants and ornaments, yes, but below that are some plant substrates - similar in appearance to Aquasoil. They have normal and powder types.



They actually have a decent variety of small <60cm tanks, too. Some are tacky and nasty, but others can actually work well. Nothing of ADA quality of course, but the GEX and Kotobuki brands have some nice rimless nano-size tanks.



Thanks for looking. I hope these pictures might be of interest to someone - potentially not!!

 

[alto]

This is brilliant

 

[Matt @ ScapeEasy]

Definately of interest! Thanks for posting.

There is as much selection there perhaps more than many fish shops round me, though obviously the fish and larger tanks are missing. It’s not far of the fish section in a Pets at Home.

I recognise the Tetra brand but not a lot else from your photos.

If you can pick up all this in your local supermarket, where would you get fish (direct from the farm perhaps - I saw a few when I was there) and plants/hardscape?

 

[igirisujin]

Definately of interest! Thanks for posting.

There is as much selection there perhaps more than many fish shops round me, though obviously the fish and larger tanks are missing. It’s not far of the fish section in a Pets at Home.

Yeah, this supermarket has no fish. Another one close-by does - even Malawis and other less common stuff - but it's not somewhere I would ever buy from. You can buy Medaka rice fish at many 'farm shop' (michi no eki) type places that sell local vegetables and fruit.

I recognise the Tetra brand but not a lot else from your photos.

Yeah, Tetra is common, particularly for food - but a little expensive. Hikari is probably the most common brand of food, which is also available in the UK.

If you can pick up all this in your local supermarket, where would you get fish (direct from the farm perhaps - I saw a few when I was there) and plants/hardscape?

There are several reasonable fish shops at around 35-40km away, and they vary in quality. They all carry planted tank gear, and most carry at least a little ADA. Most have some Tropica or ADA plants (the jelly type), some have wabi-kusa or the new Terra Base and a couple have some decent display tanks. There are no shops truely dedicated to aquascaping in the far south of Japan that I am aware of, but if you head up to Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo there is a lot to be seen.

As for hardscape, most shops have decent branchy pieces of wood. The ADA stuff is pretty expensive even here, but there are cheaper alternatives. Quality rocks are harder to come by for me, but one shop (part of a home-improvement centre) has started doing 3/5/10kg boxes of Seiryu Dragon stone. You can't open the boxes to see what's inside though, that's the only issue! I bought my recent small Seiryu stones for my 25cm nano tank there, for around £5 total.

 

[Matt @ ScapeEasy]

this supermarket has no fish. Another one close-by does

Interesting that some supermarkets would stock live fish, I completely assumed none would!

Hikari is probably the most common brand of food, which is also available in the UK.

I did wonder if a few of the packets were Hikari of which I’m a massive fan.


The cost of aquarium specific/branded hardscape is definitely a common factor as is the trend for more aquascaping shops in more urban areas (people wanting that slice of nature in a concrete jungle perhaps??). I didn’t realise ADA actually do wood though! Never heard of that here...

 

[igirisujin]

The cost of aquarium specific/branded hardscape is definitely a common factor as is the trend for more aquascaping shops in more urban areas (people wanting that slice of nature in a concrete jungle perhaps??). I didn’t realise ADA actually do wood though! Never heard of that here...

Yeah, ADA do a few types of wood and rocks. I'm not sure what's available in the UK these days, but if I remember right, TGM used to stock some. Might be wrong.

 

[alto]

ADA is the only brand I’ve seen that does the very dense black wood (or at least they used to, Canada ADA representative runs a hobby shop rather than a business, and now only very limited items are shipped once a year ... I’ve been waiting over 3 years now for any ADA L or XL pinsettes 🙄 ... and some items are v.e.r.y expensive even compared to ADA USA 😕 )

I noticed the Hikari products, one of my favourite companies though again not much available in Canada anymore
(The Canadian Government changed labelling regulations (again) and many companies just gave up on distribution to what is a relatively small market ... an exemption for niche or specialist goods would have made sense (but that would be too logical😵))

 

[Guest]

That's amazing, definitely better than most fish hobbyist shops around here in Leicester, and much cheaper too...we really do pay top dollar and have a relatively limited choice here in the UK.
And then folk wonder why the high street is dying. It's not just the internet, it's also retailers being slow to adapt to the changing market place.

 

[Gill]

This really does show how far behind the UK is in terms of Range and Variety.
When I was in India a few years ago. It was amazing how much range there was even in smaller stores. And the pricing was in stark contrast to the uk.

 

[jaypeecee]

Hi @igirisujin

As there are so many goods on display, the demand for these must be there, I guess. What proportion of households keep fish - either indoor or outdoor?

JPC

 

[igirisujin]

Hi @igirisujin

As there are so many goods on display, the demand for these must be there, I guess. What proportion of households keep fish - either indoor or outdoor?

JPC

I would imagine, due to the much smaller size of houses/apartments in Japan, fish would be an easy option than furry stuff. For those who live in rented accommodation (like us), we're not allowed 'pets'. Apparently fish don't count!

This really does show how far behind the UK is in terms of Range and Variety.
When I was in India a few years ago. It was amazing how much range there was even in smaller stores. And the pricing was in stark contrast to the uk.

The best place I've been to for fish gear is Hong Kong. Mong Kok has a street with nothing but aquatics shops, and a few dedicated to nature aquariums. Floor to ceiling of everything you'll need - knock-offs to high end. Granted they do probably make most of it nearby, though!

 

[Ed Wiser]

Here is a playlist of Japanese fish stores.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLv57eI4whkrrhKGwTnqiqJuy3zAfYl5xo

The Michael travels to Japan for his job. Let’s him go to a lot of fish stores.

 

[igirisujin]

I got to the closest two LFSs yesterday evening and took a couple of pics. These shops are very average in quality and availability - not aquascaping specialists by any means.

Some simple CO2 diffusers, accessories, mini pressurised kits.


Some ADA driftwood. Not so cheap - averaging £10-25 per piece as a rough estimate.


My wife being horrified by the price of sticks!


Some 5kg aquascaping rock sets. The note on the side says 'large x 1, medium x 5, small x 5' and 'for tanks 45cm-65cm'. It's just a shame you can't see what you're buying... About £20 per box.


Lastly, some small pots of commonly-used aquascaping stones. They include dragon stone, seiryu, lava stone and others I can't read! I'm using rocks from one of these pots in my current 25cm. They're about £5 each.

 

[14548]

Nice to see that even in Japan, Ada stuff is way to pricey. 😵

Thanks for the pics, very interesting !

 

[zgmarkozg]

My wife being horrified by the price of sticks!

That is why I dont take my wife to that kind of store. 😛

 

[zozo]

My wife being horrified by the price of sticks!

I know the feeling!? Probably the same feeling when i witness my wife buying shoes.