A Comprehensive Shopping Guide for New Students in Beppu

Written By : Daniel Lorenzo

Edited By : Purbi Bajracharya

With more international students entering the borders of Japan, newcomers are surely wondering what and where to buy necessities to live in Beppu. While Beppu is a small city, everything here is readily available, hence new arrivals should not worry about being unable to purchase their essential items. Beppu has a wide range of options with various prices and quality.

One of the most indispensable factors in order for humans to live is food and water. As a university student, cooking is a journey that they have to face alone. Beppu has a lot of choices when it comes to grocery shopping. One of the recommended supermarkets is called Gyomu. This supermarket is situated just a few buildings away from the Mochigahama bus stop. Like many other supermarkets, Gyomu has everything to offer but the price of meat and poultry is amongst the most affordable. The average price of chicken meat is 50 to 100 yen per 100g, pork meat is 150 yen per 100g, and beef from 250 to 500 yen per 100g depending on the quality. Furthermore, for vegetables the price of each package comes to around 120 yen only. In addition, Gyomu provides lots of local ingredients from numerous countries.

Just a few blocks away from Gyomu, there is another supermarket called MaxValu. This supermarket is notorious due to the fact that it is open 24 hours. Aside from its availability, MaxValu is also known for having discounted items at night as well as having a fair range of options in terms of fruit.

Nevertheless, when talking about groceries, kitchenware and silverware are needed in order to cook a proper meal. Consequently, the perfect place to purchase these utensils is mostly in Daiso, a 100 yen shop just a bus stop short of Mochigahama, known as the Yuubinkyoku mae bus stop. You can find utensils such as spatula, cutting boards, silverware, and many more for a reasonable price. On the other hand, you have the choice of similar yet better quality products but with heftier prices in Hirose Home Center. It is located just across the street from Gyomu Supermarket. Moreover, it is suggested to purchase pots and pans from Hirose as it provides better quality and better heat resistance for longevity purposes. Pans usually cost around 1,500 yen here.

After cooking and eating, cleanliness and hygiene are important aspects, especially during this pandemic period. Therefore, purchasing soaps, cleaning tools, towels and sanitizers is a major component when living in Beppu. Similar to cooking utensils, these products are all also available in Daiso for 100 yen, as well asin Hirose for an average price of 250 yen to 1,000 yen depending on the prefered size. Apart from these categories, lifestyle accessories including hangers and organizers are on sale in both stores with comparable prices to that of hygiene products as mentioned before.

Electronic appliances like hairdryers may not be a necessity for some, but for others it may be significant. There are two places where you can buy electronic products. Hirose and Yamada Denki, a store near the Beppu Eki bus stop. Both stores provide similar products. Yamada Denki is better known for a broader range of selections. However, its location is quite far compared to Hirose, that is if you are riding the bus directly from APU. Electronic products cost around thousands to tens of thousands and that is in relation to the features that the product has to offer.

Last but not least, price tags in Japan usually show prices of items without the tax and this may confuse first-timers when purchasing their necessities, hence shoppers should look out for the actual price that includes tax. Usually you can see the taxed price right below the sold item but keep in mind about this when visiting restaurants and other places.

In short, every individual’s necessities can be subjective. Having said that, these are a few tips to be aware of when coming to Beppu for the first time.

The information of each store are posted below :