Sashimi doesn’t have to mean an upscale restaurant reservation — in Japan, it’s just as often a normal supermarket purchase. Nearly every supermarket, large or small, has a dedicated sashimi section with pre-sliced, pre-plated trays, usually including free soy sauce, wasabi, and disposable chopsticks — no cooking or kitchen required.
The real money-saving trick: shop late. Most supermarkets start discounting same-day perishables, sashimi included, from roughly 7pm onward, with deeper discounts appearing progressively as closing time approaches. If your hotel has a fridge, this is a genuinely good way to eat well on a budget during your trip.
For travelers with kitchen access, buying a whole uncut fillet block and slicing it yourself costs noticeably less per gram than pre-sliced trays — a popular move among Japanese home cooks, though it does require decent knife skills.
One practical note: raw fish should be eaten the same day you buy it and kept properly chilled in the meantime, especially in warmer months.
We go deeper into which supermarket chains tend to have the best sashimi selection and exact discount timing patterns in our full guide.
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