You're after the food you ate in Japan, or a recipe has asked for Japanese curry blocks, miso or short-grain rice. You search japanese supermarket sydney, and the map fills with pins. Some say Japanese, some say Asian, and nothing tells you which ones actually are.
Sydney has a small ring of real Japanese grocers, most of them on the lower North Shore, and most of them sell online too. Below is what sets them apart, which one suits what you're after, and where to find the Japanese grocery stores in Sydney, shop by shop.
Quick answer
- Is there one?Yes, nine shops. Tokyo Mart in Northbridge has traded since 1976, and Genki Mart is on Kent Street in the city.
- Which oneTokyo Mart for a full shop, Ichiba at Top Ryde for Japanese meat and bread, Lucky Mart in Artarmon for ready-made dishes, and Super Orange for frozen natto.
- Can't get there?Most of them sell online, and Jun Direct and Genki Mart deliver anywhere in Australia. See the shops
What makes a shop a Japanese grocer?
It stocks what a kitchen in Japan runs on, under the same labels you saw there. That means short-grain rice, a wall of miso, the fermented soybean paste, then tofu, pickles, Japanese curry blocks, frozen gyoza dumplings and noodles, sake, and the snacks. A pan-Asian supermarket carries some of that. A Japanese grocer carries far more of it, much of it in the packaging you'd see in Japan.
The difference shows most in the chilled and frozen cases. Ume-Ya in Crows Nest lists tofu, meat and seafood, pickles, frozen food, and bread and cakes. Ichiba at Top Ryde sells Japanese meat and Japanese bread. Genki Mart says it imports directly from Japan and is staffed by Japanese people.
Lucky Mart's online store, Thanks Mart, has frozen meat and a whole section of hotpot ingredients. In Japan the shop itself is a sūpā (スーパー), the everyday Japanese word for a supermarket.
Which Japanese grocer suits what you're after?
They're not interchangeable, so pick by what you need. The big ones stock the full range; the small ones are worth the trip for one thing they do well.
A full shop. Tokyo Mart, in Northbridge Plaza, has traded since 1976, when it opened to serve Sydney's growing Japanese community. It lists over 5,000 products, from ingredients to tableware and kitchen tools. In the city, Genki Mart on Kent Street near Town Hall covers groceries, snacks, drinks, seasonings and frozen food.
Japanese meat and bread. Ichiba's shop at Top Ryde sells both, from a range of more than 2,200 items. Ume-Ya in Crows Nest, open since 2002, is the smaller neighbourhood version, with its own meat, seafood and bread.
Ready-made Japanese dishes. Lucky Mart, steps from Artarmon station, sells Japanese prepared dishes, which few of Sydney's Japanese grocers do. For onigiri, the Japanese rice balls, our guide to konbini, Japan's convenience stores, lists the shops that make them fresh.
Natto. For natto, the sticky fermented soybeans, Super Orange, in Chatswood and Hurstville stocks Dai's Natto frozen, and Thanks Mart has a natto section online.
A quick top-up. G'day Grocery in Neutral Bay is small, with frozen gyoza, ramen, rice crackers and matcha. Conveni8, near Town Hall on Pitt Street, is a small Japanese grocery that also sells onigiri.
Isn't the Japanese aisle at an Asian grocer the same thing?
Often it isn't, and Japanese families in Sydney worked that out first. Lucky Mart opened in Artarmon in 2002 for Japanese mothers living here. They'd been going round the big supermarkets and Asian grocers and couldn't find the Japanese food they wanted. When they did find it, it somehow didn't taste like Japan.
Even a famous Japanese brand can come from somewhere else. Kewpie, the Japanese mayonnaise in the soft squeeze bottle, has sold in Australia since 2005. The mayonnaise and dressings Kewpie sells here are made at its factory in Thailand. It's still Kewpie, just not the bottle on a shelf in Japan.
The map doesn't sort this out for you. A search for a Japanese supermarket also turns up Mido Mart, Gong Grocer and Yaochii, and each one describes itself as an Asian supermarket or grocery. They're useful shops, just not Japanese ones. The test that works is the shop's own words: every grocer below says on its own page that it's Japanese.
Where to find Japanese grocery stores in Sydney
Everything below was checked in September 2026. Nine shops, sorted by area, each with a map link that shows you its current hours.
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City
Genki Mart
Japanese groceries, snacks, drinks, seasonings and frozen food, imported directly from Japan.
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City
Conveni8
A small Japanese grocery near Town Hall that also sells onigiri.
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North Shore
Tokyo Mart
Trading since 1976, with over 5,000 products from pantry staples to tableware and kitchen tools.
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North Shore
Lucky Mart
Open since 2002, with Japanese seasonings, instant food, snacks and ready-made Japanese dishes.
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North Shore
Ume-Ya
Open since 2002, with tofu, meat and seafood, rice, pickles, frozen food and bread.
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North Shore
Super Orange, Chatswood
A Japanese grocery with frozen natto, the fermented soybeans.
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North Shore
G'day Grocery
A small Japanese grocery with frozen gyoza, ramen, rice crackers and matcha green tea.
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Ryde
Ichiba
Japanese meat, Japanese bread and more than 2,200 items, with pick-up for online orders.
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South
Super Orange, Hurstville
The second Super Orange, with the same frozen natto.
Ordering online. Most of these shops also sell online, some under a different name. Tokyo Mart's online shop is Jun Direct, Lucky Mart's is Thanks Mart, and Ichiba's is Ichiba Junction. Genki Mart and Ume-Ya use their own names. Jun Direct and Genki Mart deliver anywhere in Australia, and Ichiba Junction and Ume-Ya post everything except frozen and chilled food.
From us. We're an online shop too, and we deliver Japanese instant noodles and rice bowls across Australia.
Common questions
Is there a Japanese grocery store in Sydney?
Yes. Sydney has nine Japanese grocery stores. Tokyo Mart in Northbridge has traded since 1976, Genki Mart is on Kent Street in the city, Lucky Mart is in Artarmon and Ume-Ya in Crows Nest, with more in Chatswood, Neutral Bay, Top Ryde and Hurstville. Most of them sell online too.
Where to buy Japanese products in Australia?
You can buy Japanese products in Australia from Japanese grocers' online shops. Jun Direct, from the Tokyo Mart and Fuji Mart group with shops in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Melbourne and Perth, and Genki Mart, in Brisbane and Sydney, deliver anywhere in Australia. Ichiba Junction and Ume-Ya post everything except frozen and chilled food.
What is a Japanese supermarket called?
A Japanese supermarket is called a sūpā (スーパー), short for the English word supermarket. Japan's first one opened in Aoyama, Tokyo, in 1953. In Sydney, the closest thing is a Japanese grocer such as Tokyo Mart, whose range is described as very similar to a supermarket in Japan.
A Japanese grocer is worth one trip just to see the range. If you'd rather start with something to eat tonight, our Japanese meals are noodles and rice bowls ready in minutes, and if you're new to Japanese food altogether, start here. Know a Japanese grocer we've missed? Tell us.
Sources
- Tokyo Mart, About us, and Jun Pacific, Tokyo Mart Sydney: the 1976 opening, the range and the shop's location.
- Genki Mart, Sydney Kent St: the range, direct imports from Japan and the Japanese staff.
- Thanks Mart, About us (in Japanese): why Lucky Mart opened in Artarmon in 2002.
- Kewpie Corporation, Sets up New Sales Company in Australia (January 2024): exports since 2005, and the Thai factory behind the Australian range.
- コトバンク, スーパーマーケット: the Japanese word, the definition and Japan's first supermarket in 1953.
- Checked September 2026 on the shops' own pages: Ume-Ya, Ichiba Junction, Jun Direct, Dai's Natto on Super Orange and G'day Grocery.
Photographs — both from Wikimedia Commons, used under the licences shown: Top photograph by othree (CC BY 2.0); Sliced meat by Corpse Reviver (CC BY-SA 3.0).
