Ingredients to bring to Japan

Hi,
I'm from Switzerland and I'll be moving to Sendai for a year (academic exchange). I enjoy cooking, and while of course I'll be focusing on learning delicious Japanese cuisine, I was wondering what ingredients might be wise to bring with me. My guesses are:
- Olive Oil
- Honey
- balsamic vinegar
...

I don't know what kind of spices would be difficult to find though, any suggestions?
Of course, I don't want to bring easily perishable things with me, just things like what I listed that you generally keep in the kitchen over long periods of time...

Cheers!

Olive oil, honey, and balsamic vinegar are all readily found in supermarkets here. And you can get almost anything else that you would need via the internet.

Maybe think about something more regional or rare, that you can't do without, and then post it here to see?

You can buy them at "Kaldi Coffee Farm", "Jupiter Coffee" in JR Sendai Station and MEIDI-YA, except any particular brands you want to use.

http://www.kaldi.co.jp/stores/miyagi/sendai/
http://www.jupiter-coffee.com/store/index.php?section=store&id=9
http://www.meidi-ya-store.com/store_guide/sendai.html

I live a little bit inaka, so sometimes I can't get things I think would be really obvious... like grape jelly. I doubt you'll have much problem in Sendai, but even at times when you want specific brands, I recommend the fbc (foreign buyers club) if you absolutely can't find anything. I've emailed them about specific brand items, and they were able to find and send it to me. It can get a bit expensive, just because you're buying in bulk, but especially if its something you use a lot, or you can find a friend to split things with, it is totally worth it!

Things that we had more trouble finding (7 years ago):
Plain (non-sugared) peanut butter
Cereal (other than choco crispies and corn flakes)
American style flavored Doritos (plain ones from Australia were good for plain tortilla chips, the Japanese made ones are all much thicker and taste different.)
American non-chocolate candy (eg Twizzlers)
Available but hard to find and pricy was Indian/Thai/Chinese rice.
From scratch or more authentic style convenience Indian and Thai spices and sauces often required finding an appropriate ethnic market.

Import/fancy type grocery stores were the only place to get actual Italian style pasta sauce or real cheeses.

Okay, is the olive-oil really good olive oil though? (as in, extra-virgin? Last time I was in the states, I noticed it was also not so easy to find... in supermarkets you had these blends, and not really up to the Italian standard...).

As for honey, I should have specified, I would be bringing some nice local products from where I live. I will also get honey there, but I find honey really changes depending on region/flower/climate (ergo also year).

Hmmm I guess I'll bring some vin cuit (sort of a pear-syrup)... unfortunately most local specialties I would otherwise bring (such as tons of cheese :D ) are perishable, so I'm not so eager on bringing so much of it.

I guess spices and herbs, like nutmeg, rosemary, basil or oregano are also all easily found?
Thanks!

Just because an olive oil is labeled "extra virgin" doesn't mean it is any good. But I'd say that Sendai is probably a much better place to buy specialty and gourmet products than most U.S. cities of the same size. On the whole, Japan is far more sophisticated than the U.S. when it comes to food. As sort of a representative example, on my last trip I must have seen chervil used as a garnish on at least half a dozen food items I ate, whereas in the U.S. it would have been a spring of tasteless curly parsley, or else nothing.

If you have the money, you will find a very large range of specialty honeys available in Japan (if not in Sendai, than readily available over the Internet). But it tends to be rather expensive if you want specific floral varieties or extremely high-grade types.

Any kind of standard spices and herbs are available in retail stores in Japan, or you can readily order them. A typical supermarket will have at least a few kinds of fresh herbs, at least most of the year.

Remember that the restaurant scene in Japan trumps that in pretty much any other part of the world, and the restaurants there have to buy ingredients. The biggest limitation to what you can buy in Japan will most likely be your Japanese ability (which can seriously hamper online shopping), but if you have friends or colleagues with native proficiency, they can help you.

One spice I have trouble finding is sage... again I live out in the country, but even at bigger national chains that carry the same goods as places in Tokyo, I can't find it. For herbs you use often, I'd bring some seeds (though check import regulations for this, some aren't allowed) and just grow your own.