Going back home to visit family: ideas of gifts

First thought was the usual one: bring back some local omiyage. But maybe you have some other ideas?

And also are there any Japanese online shops specialising in this sort of things (local delivery) as I won’t have time to go shopping by the time I leave

15 comments
  1. Sugar Butter Sand Tree is nice, everyone back home I gave it to loves it.

    Be careful though the filling might melt above 30c.

  2. Tokyo Banana and strange flavours of KitKat always goes down a treat if you go the omiyage route.

    My mum likes the various curry roux you can get from the supermarket. Consider buying them some Japanese foods that your family would consider nice (or quirky!) that they can’t get in their local supermarket. Things in jars or dried in packets are normally fine for import, but double check for your specific country. For anything wet, wrap in clingfilm and then in clothes to protect them.

    My brother-in-law likes Japanese whiskey, although that is now a rather expensive endeavour!

    Some Japanese toys for the kids might be appreciated – Tomica cars, kendama, daruma otoshi, Takara Tomy Plarail trains, etc…

  3. Food wise it depends how adventurous people’s taste buds are. These things are pretty safe:

    Osembei, sweets like Shiroi Koibito, Royce nama chocolate, Bunmeido castella, Tokyo rusk, Yoku Moku cookies

  4. Since my family has never been to Japan and can’t appreciate the significance of quality food gifts from department stores and omiyage shops, I just buy stuff from the supermarket and DonQuijote…

    umaibo snacks (11yen each), packs of Hi-chew, glazed sweet potato sticks (imo kenpi), interesting potato chip flavors, unique kitkat flavors, Puré sour gummies, and any of those snack cakes that come 6 in a box.

    I got yukata sets from DonQuijote for my nephew and niece which they loved and use around the house like pajamas. My stepmother liked the bath salt pills (like the 12 piece boxes by バブ Babu and 温泡Onpou for about 300yen).

    My sister loves anime, and supermarkets have lots of snacks with anime collabs or special anime packages like Demon Slayer.

    My other sister wanted a set of Frixion pens which she can already get in the States, but she wanted ones with Japanese writing on the pen labels lol

  5. Umaibo and don’t tell them what each flavor is, let them try and guess. It’s great when they bite into the salami flavored one for the first time…

  6. Umaibo, as many different flavours of kit kats as you can carry (the fancy region exclusive boxes are really nice) and what ever your favourite snack is. I’ve had so many bad omiage treats that I decided to skip over so many, but for whatever reason I really like yatsuhashi so I grabbed a bunch of those and they were a hit

  7. Surely your mere presence is omiyage enough 😂. Have you seen the prices to fly back home?

    I used to go to the secondhand stores like Second Street and buy Japanese made and patterned plates or nice laquerware serving trays etc. Plates with wabi sabi etc. If you’re lucky you may find an authentic Asahi or Kirin beer jokki.

  8. I bought a variety pack of kids snacks online to send home once, that worked out well because it had a lot in it and it came already packed in a box.

    Skincare, makeup and so on tend to be appreciated by my family as well.

  9. My mother was just here and this is what she got to take back home:
    Japanese hair accessories and jewelry for my SIL’s,
    Deerskin painted with Japanese pattern wallet for my dad,
    Kimono fabric toiletries cases for her friends.
    She also got Japanese print playing cards, skin creams, umeboshi and Japanese assorted sweets.

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