paperwastage

Just letting people know what can be available in Costco Japan (and the prices)

A costco card from any country works in any costco worldwide - you may want to stop by the front desk to do some minor paperwork (they have to lookup your costco membership in another system)

Only used my physical card, not sure if the digital app (available in USA) works.

As of this post, Costco Japan accepts cash and Mastercard (Foreign cards work), and they do allow tax-free purchase for foreigners (and they seal items inside a large plastic bag)

Lots of pictures with comments
https://imgur.com/gallery/J6dWjog


@teemuflyer, some pics if you care

teemuflyer

Thanks for sharing the pics! Quite interesting. Somethings seem familiar, some a bit different..

Jaimito Cartero

I always love to see Costcos in different places. I’ve only been to Mexico, US, Canada and Australia so far. I’d love to checkout the Japan one some day.

Great pictures! Sorry the food court seems a bit disappointing. The US Chicken Bake never did much for me, the Bulgogi Bake sounded good...

paperwastage

I've been to Costco in USA, Japan, Australia and Taiwan

i think the chicken bake wasn't as dry (due to the cheese sauce), while the bulgogi bake was too dry for my liking (would have liked it if there was more sauce)

the hokkaido ice cream is worth going back - thinking whether to do it for my next stopover

miuk

I too just visited a Costco in Japan last week, i believe it was the one in Zama, Kanagawa (we had a rental car).

Here's some pics i got on my phone (no where near as comprehensive as paperwastage )

freecia

What a coincidence. I visited the Costco in Hiroshima last weekend and had the Hokkaido Soft serve. It was pretty good, not too rich or overwhelmingly creamy.

Costco Hiroshima might be the most easily accessible without a car. It is a short bus ride from Hiroshima station where tourists might already be transiting through. I walked back to the station after eating a good half of the soft serve (it is Costco sized) and it took about 15 min? There’s also one in Nagoya closer to the international airport.

My picks, if I had the luggage space, were the double pack of Melano CC for 1,028 JPY on sale. The two pack of Kikumasume was 1,288 JPY. In the “I don’t think I could ever finish this before it goes bad but it is such a good deal” was a giant 1.8kg tub of miso for 598.

There wasn’t a lot of Japanese whiskeys at this location. Sorry if the images are wide (uploading from phone as shot) - took a few pics given the popularity of Japanese whiskey thread. Doesn’t seem like anything special or worth lugging home?



Who buys Strong Zero by the case?

JapanFlyerT

You need a car to get to most stores, but Costco has some great sushi platters from around ¥5,000 that will feed 3-5 people.

bigmadden

Yeah, Costco in Japan is great fun and I rent a car every month just to go there with the family and stock up.

For people in the Tokyo area, the Shin-Misato location is the easiest to get to on public transportation, many of the train lines that go to Saitama intersect the Musashino line and the store is a fairly close walk from the station. Going on public transportation does severely limit what you can take with you (which may be a good thing as it is too easy to go overbudget when shopping there), but you can also ship the products you want, there is a shipping desk near the registers.

Also, the Executive Membership just became an option in Japan last month! Online shopping is also coming soon but from what I've heard it's going to be a disappointment for some in terms of selection and shipping prices, although if you live nowhere near a store then it'll surely be better than buying from middlemen sellers on Rakuten who gouge you on the price.

lobsterdog

Costco in Machida is also convenient if you have easy access to the Keio line or the Toei Shinjuku line. I live in central Tokyo and I alternate between Machida and Shin-Misato, with occasional journeys to Makuhari.

evergrn

One of the few retailers in Jpn where you don't have to feel nervous about returning stuff.

hailstorm

Costco was great with 85 yen/$ rates, but nowadays it just isn't worth it for me. Haven't renewed my membership in over a year. I've stopped in for a hot dog once, but you don't need an active membership to do that.

beep88

Shipping is cheap at Costco Japan so you can send stuff directly to the airport, post-dated for your departure date, and pack your stuff there before check-in.

boardwalk

Is anyone able to confirm whether Costco still sells Strong Zero by the case? Do you know of any other retailers that do so? Looking to bring a case home as a gift.

Nagasaki Joe

The only Costco in Japan that I have visited is the one in Makuhari many years ago. Now, there are three Costco stores in Kyushu in Fukuoka, Kitakyushu, and Kumamoto. The closest one to me is still a two-hour drive, so not very convenient. A few years ago, I read a press release online about a new Costco opening in Nagasaki Prefecture not far from where I live, but for some reason that plan was nixed, and it never opened. Instead, I discovered that they opened several small shops (about the size of a large convenience store) named Minicos (ミニコス）in Kyushu that sell a select cross-section of Costco goods (mostly food). I don't know how many there are but there are at least two in Nagasaki Prefecture (???????????????MiNiCOS??????????????? : ??????? ????????????????), I shopped in one in Oita Prefecture near Beppu, there's this one in Nara Prefecture that allows online purchases: https://minicos-online.square.site/, and also in Sapporo and Chitose. While the size of our household does not support the purchase of massively large food items sold by Costco, I do appreciate being able to buy a bag (massive though it is) of organic corn chips, roasted cashew nuts, and my favorite, Kirkland organic lemonade during the summer months at reasonable prices. Of the two I've been in, it's never very crowded, so I wonder how long this experiment can survive. Has anyone else seen or shopped in these Minicos stores?

nishimark

Maybe too late with this reply. Amazon Japan sells by the case.