Costco Deli & Costco Produce

Let’s see what they offer at the Costco deli and produce section at a Japanese Costco. So the Costco warehouse in every different country will have Costco deli products that cater to the people of that country. Again, you will have your standard Kirkland (Costco) type deli products with some new “Kirkland signature” brand foods mixed into all their available products for sale.

It’s pretty exciting to go into the Costco produce and deli section to see what’s available at that point in time. Seafood is huge in Japan so aside from a healthy selection of meats you’re definitely going to find seafood in bulk quantities. Actually, the seafood that you will find at a Costco in Japan is surprisingly similar to the ones in the US. Salmon, shrimp, lobster, scallops but they also had shishamo (capelin) which are small fish about 15 cm in length that you grill or fry (very good eating).

Costco Pizza: Take & Bake

What’s a Costco without Costco pizza?! Well, in Japan they have Costco Pizza but now they are square instead of round. Looks like we get a bonus here at Costcos in Japan! For 1300 yen which is about $16 you get much more!

They had seafood Costco “Take and Bake” pizza which was the first time we had ever seen this version anywhere. Had a good amount of cheese, scallops, shrimp, calimari, olives, green peppers and onions on there (no oysters from what we got). Seafood pizza? Yep, and it’s delicious. These would sell out faster in the US if they were made available but they might have them in other countries outside the USA. You’d pay a premium just for scallop or shrimp or calimari toppings on your Dominos or Papa John’s pizza too!

Ok, you’ve really got to have a car if you’re going to pickup Costco Pizza Take and Bake or freshly made version from the food court. It is going to be really inconvenient to bring a pizza onto the train or bus because NO ONE does that in Japan and no one does that in the US either.

Great for parties or “get togethers” with friends and family! We pickup 1 or 2 pizzas and cut them up for storage in the fridge. The square shape of Kirkland pizzas are really convenient. Easy to cut and store!

Costco Rotisserie Chicken: Any Costco Worldwide

The Costco rotisserie chicken in the US is about $5 but the ones at Costco Japan are about 700 yen or a little under $8 which isn’t too bad and they taste just as good if not better.

Was there a size difference in the rotisserie chicken at a Costco in Japan? Would not say there was any difference in size at all BUT the label shows that the Costco rotisserie chickens are from Brazil. Japan does seem to get a lot of meat from Brazil as we’ve seen in the supermarkets here.

Costco Sushi

No this is not the mediocre at best Costco sushi platter you’ll find at the US Costcos. Wouldn’t recommend those to anyone. Get the Costco sushi platters the way they were meant to be made. You have got to try to sushi platters sold at Costco Japan…fresh and delicious with more than enough for everyone. They aren’t shy with the thick cuts of fish with the large platter at about $28.

There are also Costco snow crab sushi platters (snow crab meat deshelled) and Costco sushi salmon rolls as well which are both priced at about $17. If Costco Japan has been producing sushi platters like this for years you know that by now they’ve already reached the level of quality to cater to the Japanese palette.

Sambazon Acai In Japan?

No, they don’t have Naked Juice (100% fresh fruit juice that we absolutely LOVE) but they do have Sambazon Acai which is kickass Acai juice from Brazil. Actually we’re glad that they have Sambazon Acai all the way from Brazil too! It’s at about $7 a bottle but still cheaper than what you would pay at supermarkets in the US and Sambazon Acai is just plain harder to find in Japan (especially in this bulk size) so Costco Japan is probably your only bet.

Sidenote: If you’re ever in Southern California make sure to stop by their Sambazon cafe in Newport Beach for their bombing Acai Bowls too!

Costco Cakes

Usually at the US Costcos you have an area where there are Costco cakes made to order. Did not see one but maybe we weren’t paying attention. But we did find the Costco Tuxedo cake available which we’ve never seen in any other Costco and they were offering samples of it too. One thing about cakes in the US is that a lot of them are overloaded with sugar. Japanese confectionery, cookies and cakes are balanced in sweetness (not always the case but most of the time) like French patisseries.

Was the chocolate Tuxedo Cake at Costco Japan too sweet? No…it was flavored just right and really good too! Oh boy, we were itching to bring home a Tuxedo cake too after that sampling! It was the Tuxedo cake or Costco pizza….We opted for the Costco pizza instead.