Photo/Illutration Expired rice and other products are sold at a discount at Ecolo Marche supermarket in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward on Oct. 31. (Ariha Noma)

Consumers around Japan weary of skyrocketing prices are increasingly buying deeply discounted “expired” food and other “substandard” products to get by.

At Ecolo Marche, a supermarket in a residential area of Tokyo’s Adachi Ward, products with the words “expired” written in large letters on the price tags line the shelves.

They include “chocolate for 15 yen ($0.10),” “mineral water for 11 yen” and “salad dressing for 59 yen.”

“Since last fall, when prices began to rise, the average spending per customer here has increased 1.5 to 2 times,” said Yusuke Ogata, the owner of the store, which opened in 2019.

The expiration date is the approximate day by which the product will taste good if stored in an unopened state. It is different than “use-by” dates, which are deemed the last day the products can be safely consumed.

Most products are scientifically considered safe to eat within a certain period after their expiration dates.

Ogata tastes most of the products to check their quality.

To ensure that customers understand what they are buying, he labels the products with expiration dates in large letters.

He also confirms that the customer understands the expiration date before the product is passed through the cash register.

Maruyasu, a supermarket chain that operates in six locations in Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture, sells discounted products that are approaching their expiration dates or have damaged packaging.

The company said the stores’ sales have increased about 1.3 times compared with a year ago.

“I have children, so I don’t mind if sweets and other items have expired as long as I can buy them at a discount,” said a 33-year-old homemaker who visits the Maruyasu store in Tokyo’s Ota Ward about twice a month.

Kuradashi, a company based in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward, sells about 3,300 products online, including food products nearing their expiration dates, at low prices.

The company said its membership in June jumped by 25 percent year on year.

“The number of users has increased over the last two years due to the high cost of living in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic,” a Kuradashi representative said.

Mika Onodera, 44, a company employee in Iwate Prefecture, said she started using the site about three years ago to feed her family of nine.

She said she used to shop at a very inexpensive supermarket about a 30-minute drive from her home.

But with Kuradashi, her family’s monthly food expenses have decreased by 10,000 yen to 20,000 yen.

“I do care about ‘use-by’ dates, but the rules for ‘expiration’ dates in Japan are so strict that I don’t mind if they are a week or so out of date,” she said.

Kuradashi conducted an online survey on 3,109 men and women aged 20 to 80 nationwide from Oct. 3 to 20 about how the rising cost of living has changed their lifestyles.

When asked about “substandard” food products, 92.8 percent of the respondents said they “don’t care about the appearance as long as there are no problems with taste or quality.”

Seventy percent said they “are willing to purchase products that are substandard or nearing the expiration date because I am happier with a lower price.”

Yukiko Matsui, head of the company that operates Maruyasu, said: “I sense a growing interest in ‘substandard’ products in the midst of high prices. I would be happy if this could be an opportunity to raise interest in food-loss issues.”

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