This gourmet grocery store offers a big selection of both imported and hard-to-find regional Japanese foods. Everything from goat butter and Hokkaido artisinal cheeses to fresh ramen noodles from Kyushu. They also carry dozens and dozens of unusual jams, preserves, dips and relishes. And if you can't find it here you might find it nearby - four more gourmet shops, including a well-stocked tea shop and an excellent bakery, share the basement of the Gyre Building.

Jingumae 5-10-1, Gyre B1F. Open 11am-8pm daily.

Imported foods from around the world, including cheeses, spices, and canned and packaged goods. There's also a big stock of mostly European wines. Prices vary from great bargains to inexplicably expensive, so shop carefully.

Ebisu-Minami 1-5-5, Atre Ebisu 3F. (next to the upstairs exit from Ebisu station) Open 8am-11pm daily.

One of the best of the international supermarkets, with the widest range of imported foods in Tokyo (along with Nissin in Azabu-Juban). You'll find good selections of wines, cold cuts and imported cheeses, muesli and other breakfast cereals, canned soups, cake mixes, candies and many other European and North American products. They deliver within about a 20-minute radius of the store.

Minami-Azabu 4-5-2. Open 9am-8pm daily.

This discount liquor shop also sells a fair assortment of imported foods to go with your booze.

Kami-Osaki 2-21-13. Open 11am-10pm (11-9 Sundays). Open every day.

Meat is Nissin's strong point, with over a dozen types of cold cuts, a cornucopia of sausages, and unusual items like pheasant, rabbit, and even kangaroo meat. And the third-floor wine shop is worth a visit in its own right - particularly for its wide choice of Australian and California wines in the under-Y2000 price range.

Higashi-Azabu 2-34-2. Open 9:30am-8pm daily.

Located in the middle of the very impressive food hall inside Solamachi shopping mall, Kitano Ace carries some rather specialized products, including 400 different pouch curries from shops all over Japan.

Oshiage 1-1-2, Solamachi West Yard 2F (Food Marche). Open 10am-9pm daily.

This sister of the temporarily shuttered international supermarket National Azabu offers a similarly diverse selection of imported foods and wines. Despite their suburban location (midway between Denenchofu and Jiyugaoka stations), they deliver within most of the central-Tokyo area that was served by National Azabu.

Tamagawa-Denenchofu 2-6-21. Open 10am-11pm daily.

Meats and sausages, frozen goods, pouches of samgetan (chicken-ginseng soup) and spicy chige stews, and several different varieties of makkoli (Korean milky sake) are among the many imported foods and drinks you'll find at this large 24-hour Korean supermarket.

Kabukicho 2-31-11. Open 24 hours a day.

Not quite as large as the nearby Kankoku Hiroba, this popular Korean grocery store offers housewares as well as a big selection of imported food and drink, including fresh produce.

Okubo 1-16-15. Open 10am-11pm daily.

Tropical fruits and vegetables and other Okinawan foodstuffs in a sprawling two-story market. Plus more kinds of Spam than you can shake a stick at.

Ginza 1-3-9. Open 10:30am-7:30pm daily.

A fantastic selection of French terrines, quiches, tarts and cakes is yours to take home from Le Jardin Galois, the retail arm of the excellent Brin de Muguet restaurant in Ogikubo.

Marunouchi 1-5-1, Shin-Marunouchi Bldg B1F. Open 8:30am-10:30pm daily.

Raw ingredients and packaged goods from China, Korea and southeast Asia, including fresh vegetables from Thailand two or three times a week. They're in the basement of the Ameyoko Center Building, the large triangular building near the northern end of the Ameyoko arcade, under the train tracks south of Ueno station. Next to Murachin in the same basement are two other shops, Arai and Nozawaya, with similar items for sale.

Ueno 4-7-8, Ameyoko Center Building B1F. Open 10am-8pm. Closed Wednesdays.

Okinawan ingredients.

Ueno 4-9-2.

Marvel at the huge selection of authentic French terrines, quiches, tarts and cakes to take out. From the management of Brin de Muguet restaurant in Ogikubo.

Higashi-Nakano 3-1-17. Open 8am-midnight. Closed Mondays.