Hyakushoya-kai

Hyakushoya-kai is a great little store and supplier of high quality products that are kind to the environment to produce, are less cruel to animals, support the farmers themselves and best of all- taste great as well as being good for you.

Located near the Tenma river, next to a small red Tori gate, "Hyakusho Ya Kai" is a small shop and delivery store supplying non-GE/GM organic products and free range meats and eggs to the health conscious people of Hiroshima.

The shop is quite small, but they offer a wide variety of products in their catalog that you can order and pick up at the shop a few days later. Or you can pay a membership fee to have it delivered to your home (within the city) once a week.
Delivery membership:
¥4500 for the first year and ¥1,500 for each year after. The ¥3000 deposit is reimbursed to you when you cancel your membership.
The delivery charge of 400 yen is waived if the order total is 5,000 yen or more.

You can have a regular or standing order of a box of 6-8 types of seasonal veggies that arrive every week for less than 2,000 yen for a large box and 1,500 for a small box.

Product categories in the catalog:

• Tofu and Soya Products
• Dairy: Milk Gyunyu, Yoghurt and Cheeses
• Breads pan
• Free Range Eggs tamago and Chicken niwatori
• Fruit kudamono and Vegetables yasai
• Rice gohan and flour
• Dressings, Condiments and Seasonings
• Fair Trade/Organic Tea and Coffee
• Jam and Honey hachimitsu
• Snacks: Potato chips, Chocolate, Biscuits, etc...
• Fish sakana and Seafood
• Soap sekken and Shampoo
• Free Range Beef gyunyu, Ham and Sausage

Definitions:
Free range: permitted to graze or forage rather than being confined to a feedlot.
Organic: of or relating to foodstuff grown or raised without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides or hormones.
Fair trade: a fair price is guaranteed to the farmer/grower/producer.

Some of the many vegetables available at the store fresh every Monday through Thursday

• Gobo- burdock root (boil or fry)
• Ninjin- carrot (sweet and delicious)
• Horenso- spinach (delicious cooked or fresh)
• Shiitake, Shimeji- mushrooms
• Shoga- ginger
• Jyagaimo- potato (beautiful and big- great for baked potatos)
• Tamanegi, Negi, Nira- onion, green onion, leek
• Cabetsu, Letasu- cabbage, lettuce

There is no parking, but you can pull your car in front of the shop along the road and keep an eye on it easily. It is not a busy road and never seems to be a problem finding a space.

English speaking staff
An English speaker works at the shop on Monday from 11 to 6.
He also said he'll write an English brochure explaining the system for those who would like it.

Sample Catalog Translation from 4/2006
on the first pink page is the specials which change week to week, but every time they also offer:

15. Large Seasonal Vegetable set (year contract)1680yen each time (8-10 kinds of vegetables)
16. Small Seasonal Vegetable set (year contract 1260yen each time (6-7 kinds)
17. to take a break from the year contract delivery pay 200 yen/each time to hold your contract
18. Large Seasonal Vegetable set (no contract)1785yen (8-10 kinds of vegetables)
19. Small Seasonal Vegetable set (no contract) 1365yen (6-7 kinds)

Water delivery (year contract) each gallon container of water is 735yen (comes from the source of the Otagawa and tastes great) give back the empty container at the next delivery

102 Eggs - (pack of 10) 441yen
103 Eggs- (pack of 18) 598yen (give back the packaging to reuse)
106-111 different kinds of tofu
113 Non-homogenized milk 325yen
114 Pasturized milk 294yen (low chemicals and hormones)
115 "" (500ml) 168yen
116 coffee flav. milk
117 heavy cream
118 pudding
119 plain yoghurt 294yen
120-124 various yoghurts
125-129 various cheeses
130 soya milk 388 yen
131 butter
132 margarine
133 bigger size margarine


135-150 Baked Goods- cookies, breads, cakes and cookies

202-227 Fruits and Vegetables- seasonal and often changes, but we love the following:

202 Fuji apples 828yen
203 Strawberries 630yen
204 Oranges
206 Mikan Oranges
207 lemon
208 potatos
209 onions
210 carrots
215 green onions
217 cabbage
218 broccoli
220 spinach
221 salad greens
225 shimeji mushrooms

235-250 japanese ingredients and spices (miso and such)
502-514 tea and coffee
516-529 jams, honey and other jellies
531-550 Chocolate, Nuts, Senbei and Sweets

602-625 Japanese main food ingredients: seaweeds, katsuo, konbu, hijiki, nori, dashi (soup base) packs

627-650 Soaps, Shampoos, Conditioner (Rinse), Facial and body creams and treatments

702-730 Fish and Seafood

715-730 ("Farm Foods" Meat Products) mince, filets, Ham and Sausages & weiners

732-742 ("Ton Ton" Pig Farm Meat Products) roast cuts, sliced, mince

"Top quality organic goods"
Eleanor Carson - Thu Nov 2006
How to find it: Get off the streetcar at Dobashi. Cross the road towards the 7-11 and continue on that road for about 10 minutes on foot. You will go over a bridge (Tenma River). Continue, watching for a large red Torii on your right. The shop is next to the torii. The owner speaks English and will try to help you find goods and can suggest ways to prepare traditional Japanese vegetables if you don't know how. You can wash the vegetables at home and soak them briefly in vinegar if you are concerned about "guests". He is VERY reliable with deliveries and can help you set up a weekly delivery if you like. The vegetable set is very good value for your money. I've been getting weekly deliveries for over 6 months and am very happy with his service. You can also pick up a lot of the food and other goods directly from the shop. One of Hiroshima's finest shops!

"great food"
Carla Wilson - Mon Aug 2006
I have a delivery once a week from this shop. The box of seasonal vegetables is really good, always very tasty and good value. The staff are friendly - the delivery man explains how to store things if he thinks I might not know. The free range eggs are really good, well worth the extra money not just for knowing they aren`t cioming from battery chickens but also for the taste. You can get a big bag of okara - the whey of tofu - for 31yen. This is a really good source of protein and absorbs flavours much better than regular tofu. It keeps in the freezer if you don`t want to use it all at once. The cookies are really nice too. You can get environmentally friendly shampoo, soap etc too as well as food. This is a good option for anyone who isn`t sure about whether to use the Body Shop anymore after its takeover by L`Oreal. A great little shop for anyone who is interested in organic, environementally-friendly, cruelty-free products.

"Veggies with Flavor!!"
HippyMama - Mon May 2004
I have been sooo dissapointed with the taste of vegetables here that I wasn't expecting much, but thought it might be better to check this place out. WOW, from the moment I was washing it (it seemingly comes straight from the garden) I could smell the sweetness of the carrot and the earthy, savory smell of the spinache- amazing! I was eating fresh, crispy peas whole all night in front of the TV instead of my usual popcorn! Yes, it was unreal. I don't speak a hint of Japanese, but did a good job foraging around the shop finding the vegetables out front and in the back wrapped in newspaper, milk and yoghurt and meat was easy to find in the fridges and the staff spoke a little english with me- there was also a customer in there keen to help out. The prices are also very reasonable! It is a bit tricky to find. GH- please make a map for this place when you have a chance!