peanut butter in Tokyo?

Is peanut butter (creamy style) readily avaiable in small jars in small convenience stores in Tokyo? My daughter is a vegetarian and I am wondering if I can get this there or if I need to bring it on our trip. Thank you.

Proper peanut butter is pretty hard to find. If you don't think she'll be able to do without it, it would probably be more convenient to bring it along instead of spending valuable vacation time trying to hunt down peanut butter. Be forewarned - there is a product called "peanut cream" which is easy to find, but it's not peanut butter! It's like peanut-flavoured icing. Gross. That said, packages of roasted nuts are readily available in convience stores and supermarkets - not sure if that is an acceptable substitute for your daughter.

Also, be aware, if you daughter does not eat fish - it is very, very difficult to avoid fish in Japan, as fish stock and fish extract is often added to otherwise vegetarian foods. For example, plain udon noodle soup will be served in fish broth. If you search this forum, you will be able to find more information on eating vegetarian in Japan.

In Tokyo area, Skippy peanut butter jars are almost always available at large supermarkets that deal with imported goods, such as Seijo Ishii or Meiji-ya. The stores can be found near a lot of major train stations.

I didn't see any big supermarkets in Tokyo, that is why I asked about the cenvenience stores, as we saw plenty of those by the train stations.

She will eat fish broth or chicken broth (prefers not to, but she knows this is the norm in Japan w/the noodle broths), but just not the meat. We are staying where she can get a western breakfast in the morning and we will be ok peicing it together after that. We have already found Good Honest Grub cafe by our hotel in Ebisu (they even have veggie burgers) and also several tofy restaurants in Kyoto. It is Hakone and Takamatsu that I am more concerned abou tand that is why I want to have peanut butter, bread, jam available for a quick sandwich if need be.

Thanks very much to you both.

There are lots of veggie options in convenience stores - just no PBJ.

for example:
-egg salad sandwiches
-onigiri (rice balls) with plum or vegetables in the middle (you will have to be able to read the wrapper to see which has which inside tho - plum is ‚¤‚ß - lots of rice balls have fish, but some do not)
-trail mix
-baked goods
-snack-sized packs of cheese
-microwave pasta with sauce (some will have meat, but some may not - you'd probably be able to tell by looking)
-inari-zushi (the sushi in the brown tofu packets - contains no fish)
-and more...

As for restaurants, in conveyor-belt sushi-type places, there is:
-cucumber roll
-egg sushi
-inari-zushi
-corn sushi
-yellow pickle (shinko) roll
-pickled plum roll
-plus they might have veggie tempura, salad, fruit, etc


In a place that serves Japanese food, if your daughter is willing to eat broth made with fish or meat, that widens your choices quite a bit. Udon or Soba noodles are both pretty safe, and most restaurants (not necessarily just vegetarian ones) have a couple of tofu dishes - ie. hiya-yakko which is cold tofu, tofu steak (tofu sute-ki in japanese), or age-dashi tofu, which is deep-fried tofu in broth. Not to mention fried potato, corn butter, daikon salad, mmmm getting hungry...

At any rate, of course it would be good to pack a jar of peanut butter just in case your daughter gets hungry and you are not in the mood to play russian roulette with a menu, but don't be too worried -there are lots of options out there.

http://www.vegietokyo.com/

have you seen this site? it looks like it could be helpful for you.

Domo aritgato gozumai, sazae-san. You are making me feel more confident.

Guess what- this is cool. I found this website that sells all kinds of miniature items for travel and other uses and they sell miniarture packets of peanut butter and jelly! So I ordered a bunch of them for my carry on bag. Very cool site for all kinds of little travel things, personal items, etc.
www.mimimus.biz

Usually, there are no or very few supermarkets near large hotels. And the few markets that are available near hotels are expensive. I find that this is quite an international thing. Where local residents live on reasonable prices, there is no land for large hotels.

If you're in Ebisu though, you can find the Mitsukoshi department store in Garden Place, as well as Atre mall which is connected from the subway and JR stations. You can find Skippy there. Not in the cheapest prices, but they are available.

In fact, I've been looking around since I saw your question, and Skippy seems to be available in most supermarkets, even in the ones that don't specialise in imported goods.

Ask the conceirge of large hotels and I'm sure they can lead you to shops that sell peanut butter and many other meat-free foods.

Thank you for looking around, Uco! That was sweet of you. I forgot about that dept. store at Ebisu Garden or Place, the big nice area btwn. Westin and the JR station where we are staying. It is across from the brewery place. I didn't go in there when we stayed in Ebisu last time. I'll try that, I assume they have a big food area in the basement.
You know, it is funny, the only big real supermarket store I saw the whole time I was in Japan was at the train station in Hiroshima. It was neat, I strolled all around every aisle looking at all the foods and actually bought a bunch of candy (that tastes like lychee nuts, can't get that in the U.S.), and then had the best okonomyaki before getting the train. Yum.

if your daughter would like to eat vegiterrian suchi you could always say

Watashi wa bejitarian desu

meaning i am vegitarian or i am vegan

2 years too late guys

And you are 6 months too late... ;-)

For those reading this thread in the present day I found Skippy Peanut Butter at the Carrefour in Makuhari (Chiba).

You can get it a the foreign foods place in the East-West Tunnel just outside the Electric Town south exit of Akihabara Station.

There are supermarkets all over tokyo and all I have ever been in sell peanut butter. I am quite sure you can buy it convenience stores to. The most common brand is skippy which tastes the same as the US one (its a bit sweet for me). You can get more natural ones in health food stores.