Tengu has been around for 14 years, specializing in tasty, healthy, organic products aimed at the vegetarian and vegan customer in particular. They offer a wide range of organic groceries and natural foods, micro-beers, health products, and goodies that aim to limit pollution and animal abuse in Japan and around the globe. It makes you feel good to order from a company with a conscience.

They produce a good bilingual quarterly newsletter with food news, heathy living tips and new product intros. They also send out a monthly email newsletter with their current specials and short articles. Just send them an email to request either or their free catalog.

The staff are extremely friendly and efficient and most orders are shipped within a few days. If you ever have a product complaint, you generally don't have to pay for it. There is no annual membership fee, and no shipping charge for orders over ¥18,000.

Shipping prices increase if ordering items which are frozen (add ¥800 to the order subtotal) or refrigerated (add ¥500). Some products are only shipped on Wed and need to be ordered by the preceding Friday. Symbols in the catalog indicate which products contain eggs or dairy products.

Here's a typical order from a Tengu fan (2000):

• Organic Sprouted Multi Grain Bread (¥680)"absolutely delicious" they promise.
• Fruit and Nut Granola (1kg- ¥1,100)
• Rice Dream Vanilla (Rice Milk) 950ml (¥480)
  
• Fig Bars (¥680)
• Chocolate Chip PB Clif Bar (¥240)
• Paul Newman's Organic Pretzels (¥400)
• Organic Hibiscus Tea (¥260)
• Dried Apricots
  (¥480)
• Thai Cous cous Mix (¥450)
• Mixed Vegetable Curry (¥520)
• Indian Papadums (¥320)
• Siam Green Curry (¥520)
• (Amy's) Frozen Burritos (¥500 each)
• Frozen Veggie Burgers (¥750 for 4)
• Natural Health Magazine (¥500)

At Tengu's website you can order online, write and read reviews of your favorite products and once you log in, a reference of your past orders is kept on hand for easy future ordering.

Shipping Costs and Payment

Paying is simple, they send a postal Furikomi payment form with the delivery that can be easily paid at any post office AFTER you receive the products. They sometimes throw in a free gift with orders as well as a final "thank you gift" if it's your final order before you leave Japan.
In addition, they offer good discounts on products nearing the expiry date (this is a good reason to join their e-mail newsletter list).

Warabe Mura Wholefoods

Warabe Wholefoods is a company with an environmental conscience and dedication to organic and all-natural products. A Warabe Mura's member of staff told me the company was started to "supply real whole foods to the general public in an effort to support the traditional crafts of people who make miso, shoyu, etc as well as support Japan's organic farmers." The company is a family-run business with 5 staff, 4 being family. Yuko amd Martin basically run the mail order side of the company deciding what they sell. They also run a small shop carrying their products and do various events to involve the local community. They offer everything from cooking classes, to talks on organic farming, animal rights, veganism, and fair trade. Warabe Mura is unique and uncompromising in their promise that ALL products are completely dairy, fish and meat free. Furthermore, the personal care products they sell are never tested on animals.

Although Warabe Mura is not (yet) online, they are an exceptional company which offers high quality products and good customer service.
They offer a wide variety of goods including everything from homemade breads to baskets of fresh organic vegetables, fresh pastas and a wide range of health and skin care products. You can get all their products by mail order which arrive within 3 or 4 days. You can request a catalog by Toll Free telephone/fax or by email. Shipping is free for orders over ¥20,000, and for those than ¥20,000 ¥700 within Honshu, ¥1,000 to Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, and ¥1,600 to Okinawa.

Warabe Mura products are unique and tailored to suit people more familiar with health food products. For example, they sell soya mince and chunks, seitan and gluten meats, and millet grains -lesser known ingredients that make delicious protein rich, meat-free meals, but which take some getting used to how to cook with them. If you ever have any problems figuring the products out, however, cooking tips and recipes are included in their newsletters and they also sell good cookbooks.

Examples from the catalog:

• Organic Wine, and Mirin (cooking sake) (¥1,700-2500 per bottle)
• Organic vegetable set (varies by season) (¥1,500-1,800)
• Jams (¥650-720)
• Homemade breads: pita (¥140)- rye (¥620)
• Healthy snacks (corn chips, mochi, senbei, nuts and seeds) (¥280-530)
• A range of herbs and spices: pepper (¥100)- cardamon powder (¥1,000)
• Sprouting seeds (just add water) (¥280-800)
• Soya and rice milk (¥150-480)
• Juices and "ame" fizzy health drink (¥220-880)
• Teas and (fair trade) coffees (¥300-1,500)
• Beans, legumes and grains (¥260-1,000)

(See a list of their products in Japanese here) As well as food, Warabe Mura offers environmentally friendly products such as toothpaste (calcium, salt, or herb); soap (calendula, iris, or rosemary); cosmetics, shampoos and lotions; skin and aromatherapy oils; sun care; pet and baby care; toiletries (including "Keepers Inc" washable, re-usable menstrual pads, diapers, and nursing pads); kitchenware (pressure cookers and tofu making kits too); home cleaning products; books (including cookbooks) ;crayons and stationery.

Warabe Mura can be contacted at warabemura@aol.com. Order a catalogue online here: Warabe.co.jp