Interesting phenomenon on grocery store shelves in the past year: a bunch of the major Asian food brands have traditionally imported products into the US to make English packaging versions, then reimported those into Canada. We're starting to see many of those show up in Canada directly imported from Asia, with the original-language packaging and a sticker.
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@misty @akamran @lrhodes I can't find the post as well, but I found this article from May
https://www.npr.org/2026/05/13/nx-s1-5820671/japanese-snack-packages-black-and-white
@misty I'm sure the US companies that would have made money repackaging those products and transporting them are super happy about that turn of events.
For example Kikkoman will still sell you imported-from-America-imported-from-Japan English label stuff, but also sells a cheaper direct-from-Japan soy sauce with a Japanese label.
(tbh I think the direct-from-Japan product might be a little better-tasting too? Haven't compared them next to each other though.)
@misty maybe grocery stores are now using the same suppliers as the Asian markets? Loblaws owns T&T, so that would be easy enough for them (fuck Loblaws of course)
@giflian I could definitely see that. In this case checking the bottle, the paper labels they slapped on for importing it have the actual Kikkoman logos and no name of an importer, so this may be either Kikkoman themselves doing it or the grocery chain directly buying from Kikkoman in Japan.
@misty we need a journalist to figure this out for us.
