Value Village ／ Everyday know-how
This answer is a draft. It stays unpublished until legal review and source verification are complete.
Japanese packaged food carries one of the world's more detailed labels: two kinds of date, a full ingredient list in descending order, allergens in brackets, and a nutrition panel. Residents read it in a glance; newcomers see a wall of kanji. Six fields cover almost everything.
| Heading | Reads | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Name (名称) | meishō | Product type (e.g. soft drink 清涼飲料水; confectionery 菓子) |
| Ingredients (原材料名) | genzairyō-mei | Ingredients in descending order by weight; additives after a slash "／"; allergens in brackets e.g. "contains wheat and milk ingredients" （小麦・乳成分を含む） |
| Net contents (内容量) | naiyōryō | Net weight or volume |
| Best-before / use-by date (賞味期限 / 消費期限) | shōmi / shōhi kigen | Best-before (quality) / Use-by (safety) — see below |
| Storage method (保存方法) | hozon hōhō | Storage: room temp (常温), refrigerate at 10°C or below (要冷蔵, 10°C以下), frozen at −18°C or below (冷凍, −18°C以下) |
| Manufacturer / seller (製造者 / 販売者) | seizōsha / hanbaisha | Manufacturer or seller, with address |
| Word | Meaning | Applies to | After the date |
|---|---|---|---|
| shōmi kigen (賞味期限) | Best before — the maker's quality date | Foods keeping more than ~5 days: snacks, canned, dry, frozen | Usually still edible; judge by condition |
| shōhi kigen (消費期限) | Use by — safety limit | Perishables: bento, sandwiches, fresh cakes, raw meat | Do not eat |
[Verify] Field requirements with the Consumer Affairs Agency's Food Labelling Standards; nutrition and origin labelling dates with CAA notices.
Most packaged foods carry a best-before date (賞味期限) — a quality date. The use-by date (消費期限) is the safety one, and it is only on perishables. Learn to tell the kanji for "taste" (味) from the one for "consume" (費).
Descending by weight, like most countries. Additives come after the slash (／). The first three ingredients tell you what the food mostly is.
They are in brackets inside the ingredient list or summarised at its end: "contains, in part, …" (一部に〇〇を含む). Eight are mandatory (see the allergen article).
Japanese panels show salt equivalent in grams — directly comparable to the 7 g daily target — not sodium in milligrams.
It helps with ingredients. For dates and storage, learn the two kanji pairs and the words for "keep refrigerated" (要冷蔵) — they are the fields where a mistake matters.
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https://www.caa.go.jp/policies/policy/food_labeling/food_labeling_act/
https://www.caa.go.jp/policies/policy/food_labeling/food_sanitation/expiration_date/
https://www.caa.go.jp/policies/policy/food_labeling/nutrient_declearation/
⚠️ Editorial note: the source URLs above were identified by search. Our working environment cannot reach go.jp domains, so the contents have not been checked against the text. Verify every source before publication and record who checked it and when.
What we share here are ideas and everyday practices passed down among people living in Japan, together with general information drawn from public sources. They are not official recommendations, and they are not professional instruction. Practices vary between households and regions.
This is general information. Results vary from person to person and depend on your own conditions and surroundings.
Please decide for yourself, using your own judgement, whether any of this suits your situation. We cannot accept responsibility for any damage, loss or injury arising from following this article.
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