Tokyo Japanese Food Store — Local services in Pittsburgh

What a gem of a market. I recently moved to Pittsburgh from NYC and have lived on both coasts. I was worried that it would be difficult to find Japanese cooking ingredients, snacks, sashimi, and the like. I’m used to going to chain stores like Mitsuwa and Nijiya in California or Sunrise Mart in NYC.

This small store has all the food products I would expect to find and at very good prices. I just got back from Japan and have been incorporating more of a Japanese diet since I got back. They have produce such as: shiso, gobo, daikon, Japanese cabbage, satoimo, renkon… and all of the essential cooking sauces and ingredients to make umami dishes at home. I also noticed that they offer Japan-grown rice along with other good short grain varieties. We’ve bought their sashimi a handful of times and make bowls with it at home. It’s fresh and reasonably priced.

I’m so happy that they’re in the neighborhood, as we don’t have any other Japanese markets nearby. I noticed that they just changed their hours so they are open later, until 7PM Tuesday-Saturday. They had a small selection of home goods, including Zojirushi rice cookers; but I’d love to see them sell more home, beauty, and stationery products if that is ever feasible. I really look forward to supporting them more. The man and woman who work in the store are always pleasant, much more so than other markets I’ve been to in the area. It’s nice to see them and chat with them.

I initially came here because I was having a hard time finding a loaf of shokupan (milk bread) and they have a big selection of it from a good bakery in the freezer. Wonderful!!...

This is the first time in seven years that I have written a negative review on Google, and the rudeness of the owner, as well as his offense to other Asians, made me quite uncomfortable. It was my first visit to the store to pick up some sashimi when a male employee came over and told me that outside drink was not allowed inside the store (I was holding a coffee at the time) and asked me to put it in the corner. I had already placed it in the corner and planned to continue selecting my items. I could have accepted this if he had been polite, but he continued in a scolding tone, saying that there was a notice on the door. Come on, there were so many things posted at your entrance, was I supposed to read each one before entering? Besides, I happened to enter when someone was coming out. I held back and continued shopping, choosing the only piece of sashimi that still looked fresh, priced at $9.49, and went to check out. There was a white couple in front of me; the female employee at the counter was all smiles and very polite to them. But when it was my turn, her face turned sour as she pointed out a rule to me that credit cards were not allowed for purchases under $10. I did have cash on me, but she said I could either pay a higher price to use the card, or go buy the more expensive (but not fresh) sashimi inside. I refused and went to put the sashimi back in its place and left. The male employee followed me the whole time, as if I were a thief, and glared at me as I left. It was only after seeing Google reviews accusing them of racial discrimination that I realized they were...

I thought Japanese culture teaches being extremely polite towards fellow human beings. How the owner of this establishment and the employee both proved me wrong. They practically told us to get out of the store when I was shopping with my daughter who wanted to showcase Japanese culture in her high school international club. The reason they wanted us to get out of the store was that they wanted only one of us to be in the store at the same time. And I understand that we need to be cautious due to covid. My challenge was that my daughter needed my assistance for identifying things to represent true Japanese culture. And I was ready to leave without any objections anyway, as I was not ready to tolerate any disrespect towards me and my daughter. There are 101 ways of explaining store policies and guidelines in a customer-centric way. Communication can be done in a nice but firm manner as well. Even if they wanted us to leave, there are certainly nicer ways of saying to leave instead of shouting at us several times to get out of the store. I was so furious that I left cart full of things in the store, grabbed my daughter and left. Never again, I would set foot in this store, and I don't think my daughter would ever think of Japanese as a courteous people. If you ever want to experience how rude, ill-mannered, impolite, discourteous, disrespectful, and uncivil a human being can be, Please visit this store. I would highly recommend everyone to experience true Japanese uncivility...