Japanese grocery stores and ingredient suppliers in Taiwan

This page is for food lovers and professional chefs in Taiwan that are looking for Japanese cooking supplies.

With the long history of interaction between Taiwan and Japan, as well as the similarity in food cultures, it is easier to get Japanese food in Taiwan than in most other countries. In many Japanese restaurants, ingredients other than seasonings and alcohol are supplied locally.

Japanese Cooking Supplies

Rice

Many Japanese restaurants use Japanese rice grown in Taiwan.

Soy sauce

In Taiwan, you can get many kinds of soy sauce, as in Japan.

Miso

In Taiwan, you can get many kinds of miso, as in Japan.

Seafood

Taiwan lands the same kind of fish that can be found in Japan. Freshly caught Aji (Horse Mackerel), cutlass fish, tuna, barracuda, Nodoguro (rosy seabass), skipjacks (bonitos), grouper, marlin, Kanpachi (great amberjack), etc. are usually available. Shops that use salmon roe, scallops, and sea urchins, which are not available in Taiwan, import products from Japan through Japanese food vendors.

At sushi restaurants, salmon, shrimp, scallops and sea urchin are usually the most popular ingredients.

Alcohol

At very high-end restaurants you can find expensive Japanese sake such as “Dassai”, “Kubota” or “Juyondai”. However, most people in Taiwan don’t know much about Japanese brands of sake and are satisfied with the locally produced, reasonably priced sake.

Japanese whiskey is often popular with men in Taiwan, and fruit wines such as plum wine are popular with women.

List of Japanese grocery stores and ingredient suppliers

Below is a list of shops that Japanese people living in Taiwan often go to. Compared to other countries, there are a lot of shops and a lot of Japanese ingredients available, so we will list the main ones only.

Number of Local Japanese People

24,280 Japanese people live in Taiwan, as of 2018.

Number of Local Japanese Restaurants

As of 2020, it was estimated that there are about 10,000 Japanese restaurants in Taiwan.

For Taiwan People Wanting to Study Japanese Cuisine in Japan

Do you want to study Japanese cuisine in Japan one day? Chefs Wonderland, an agency for helping foreign visitors study cooking in Japan, can make all your cooking school dreams come true.

There are two main ways to study Japanese cuisine in Japan.

One way is to enroll in a culinary school.

The other is to find work at a Japanese restaurant in Japan, although this is not very easy to do.

How Many Taiwan People are Living in Japan?

As of 2018, there are 61,960 Taiwanese people living in Japan.

In addition, 4,757,258 people visited to Japan in 2018.

Study Japanese Cuisine at a Culinary School

If you want to attend a Culinary Technical College for Japanese people, you need to be able to speak fluent Japanese, but even if you can’t speak Japanese, you can study Japanese cuisine at one of the following schools that offer English courses lasting anywhere from one day to three months.

There are classes for beginners, short-term intensive courses to get a certificate, and private classes for professional chefs.

Culinary Schools in Japan

Study Japanese Cuisine While Working

Under the current immigration laws, foreigners have very limited opportunities to work in restaurants in Japan, you would need a working holiday visa, a spouse visas, or a type of special activity visa issued only to a few people. If you want more information on studying Japanese cuisine while working in Japan,

please see the following article.

Working Holiday in Japan

Working holiday visas are issued to Taiawanese nationals between the ages of 18 and 30 with a maximum of 10,000 people per year. If you can get a Working Holiday Visa, you can enjoy vacationing and working in Japan for up to one year.

If you are thinking about going on a Working Holiday to Japan, please see the following article.
Japan Working Holiday Guide – 15,000 youth get working holiday visa every year

Would you like to know more?