The core idea: the label is a form with fixed fields
Japanese labelling rules require most packaged foods to carry the same core information, and makers usually put it in one ruled box. The field names sit in the left column, the answers on the right, and the order rarely changes: meishō (名称), the type of food; genzairyō mei (原材料名), literally 'raw material names', the ingredients; naiyōryō (内容量), literally 'content amount'; the date; hozon hōhō (保存方法), the storage method; and the maker. Learn the headings and you can read the shape of any label, even when the answers are beyond you. The diagram shows a label for fictional biscuits, with a nutrition panel beside it.
In the shop, the same words come up when you ask staff about a product.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| これは何が入っていますか。 | Kore wa nani ga haitte imasu ka. | What's in this? |
| 原材料はどこに書いてありますか。 | Genzairyō wa doko ni kaite arimasu ka. | Where are the ingredients listed? |
| 裏の表示に書いてあります。 | Ura no hyōji ni kaite arimasu. | (Staff) It's on the label on the back. |
| Field | Reading | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| 名称 | meishō | The type of food, such as yakigashi, baked sweets, not the brand name |
| 原材料名 | genzairyō mei | Ingredients by weight, heaviest first |
| 内容量 | naiyōryō | Net contents in grams, millilitres or pieces |
| 賞味期限 / 消費期限 | shōmi kigen / shōhi kigen | One of the two dates, or where it is printed |
| 保存方法 | hozon hōhō | How to keep it before opening |
| 製造者 / 販売者 | seizōsha / hanbaisha | The maker, or the company selling it |
| 原産国名 | gensankoku mei | Country of origin, on imported goods |
Shōmi kigen and shōhi kigen: taste against safety
These two sound almost identical: both start with shō and both end in kigen, literally 'time limit'. The kanji tell them apart. Shōmi kigen (賞味期限) is literally the 'taste-appreciation limit': until this date the maker promises the food will taste as it should. Shōhi kigen (消費期限) is literally the 'consumption limit': the date by which the food should be eaten. A pack carries one or the other, depending on how fast the food spoils. Shōhi kigen goes on foods that go off within about five days: boxed meals, sandwiches, fresh cream cakes, raw meat and fish. Shōmi kigen goes on almost everything else: snacks, cup noodles, tins, most milk, and eggs.
Official guidance states the difference plainly. Past the shōhi kigen, you should not eat the food. Past the shōmi kigen, it does not suddenly become inedible; the quality may simply decline. Both dates assume the pack is unopened and stored as the label says. Eggs are a special case: their shōmi kigen is the period for eating them raw, and packs usually say to cook them thoroughly after it. Housemates checking the fridge talk about it like this.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| この牛乳、賞味期限いつまで？ | Kono gyūnyū, shōmi kigen itsu made? | When's the best-before on this milk? |
| 昨日までだけど、開けてないよ。 | Kinō made da kedo, akete nai yo. | It was yesterday, but it hasn't been opened. |
| このお弁当、消費期限切れてる。 | Kono obentō, shōhi kigen kireteru. | This bento is past its use-by date. |
| 期限切れだから捨てよう。 | Kigengire da kara suteyō. | It's expired, so let's throw it out. |
Reading the date: 26.10.05 and where it hides
Japanese dates run from the biggest unit to the smallest: year, month, day. On packaging the year is often cut to two digits, so 26.10.05 is 5 October 2026, never 26 October 2005. You will also see 2026.10.05, 26 10 05 with spaces, or 2026年10月5日 in full. Foods whose best-before is more than three months after manufacture may show only the year and month, such as 27.03. Boxed meals and sandwiches often add an hour to the shōhi kigen, as in 26.9.29 22時. Letters after the date are usually a factory or batch code, not part of the date.
Often the box does not contain the date at all. It says where to look instead, in a phrase ending in kisai, literally 'recorded', meaning printed there. Wakugai, in the first line below, is literally 'outside the frame'. After the printed phrases come the spoken ones.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 枠外下部に記載 | Wakugai kabu ni kisai | Printed outside the box, below it |
| 枠外上部に記載 | Wakugai jōbu ni kisai | Printed outside the box, above it |
| 容器底面に記載 | Yōki teimen ni kisai | Printed on the bottom of the container |
| キャップに記載 | Kyappu ni kisai | Printed on the cap |
| 缶底に記載 | Kanzoko ni kisai | Printed on the bottom of the can |
| どこに書いてありますか。 | Doko ni kaite arimasu ka. | Where is it written? |
| 底に書いてありますよ。 | Soko ni kaite arimasu yo. | It's on the bottom. |
| 十月五日までです。 | Jūgatsu itsuka made desu. | It's good until the fifth of October. |
Storage and after opening: hozon hōhō and kaifūgo
The date only holds if you store the food the way the label says, which is why the storage line sits right next to it. The prefix yō- in yō reizō (要冷蔵) and yō reitō (要冷凍) means 'requires': literally 'requires cold storage' and 'requires freezing'. Jōon (常温) is room temperature. Once you open the pack, the printed date no longer applies, and labels switch to kaifūgo (開封後), literally 'after breaking the seal'. These are the lines as they are printed.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 直射日光、高温多湿を避けて保存してください。 | Chokusha nikkō, kōon tashitsu o sakete hozon shite kudasai. | Store away from direct sunlight, heat and humidity. |
| 10℃以下で保存してください。 | Jū-do ika de hozon shite kudasai. | Keep at 10°C or below. |
| -18℃以下で保存してください。 | Mainasu jūhachi-do ika de hozon shite kudasai. | Keep at minus 18°C or below. |
| 常温で保存できます。 | Jōon de hozon dekimasu. | Can be kept at room temperature. |
| 開封後はお早めにお召し上がりください。 | Kaifūgo wa ohayame ni omeshiagari kudasai. | After opening, please eat soon. |
| 開封後は冷蔵庫で保存してください。 | Kaifūgo wa reizōko de hozon shite kudasai. | After opening, keep in the fridge. |
| 解凍後は再冷凍しないでください。 | Kaitōgo wa sai-reitō shinaide kudasai. | Do not refreeze after thawing. |
Beyond the basics: ingredients, the slash and country of origin
Ingredients are listed by weight, heaviest first, so the first word tells you what the food mostly is: in the diagram, flour outweighs sugar, and sugar outweighs butter. Additives, tenkabutsu (添加物), must be kept separate from ordinary ingredients. Most makers do it with a slash: everything after it is an additive, also in weight order. Others start a new line or use a separate additives row.
The heaviest ingredient also carries its origin in brackets. A country name means it was grown or produced there. Kokunai seizō (国内製造), literally 'domestic manufacture', is different: it means the ingredient, such as flour, was processed in Japan, and says nothing about where the wheat was grown. At the end of the list, a bracket beginning ichibu ni, literally 'in part', summarises the main allergens. Allergens need more care than a paragraph can give, and a separate guide to allergen charts covers them properly. Friends at the shelf get the origin question wrong all the time.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 国内製造って、日本産ってこと？ | Kokunai seizō tte, Nihon-san tte koto? | Does kokunai seizō mean it's from Japan? |
| 加工したのが日本っていう意味だよ。 | Kakō shita no ga Nihon tte iu imi da yo. | It means it was processed in Japan. |
The nutrition panel: always check per what
Most packaged foods also carry an eiyō seibun hyōji (栄養成分表示), a nutrition panel, with five required items in a fixed order: energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate and salt. The last is shokuen sōtōryō, literally 'salt-equivalent amount': sodium converted into the weight of salt. Carbohydrate may be split into tōshitsu, net carbohydrate, and shokumotsu sen'i, fibre.
The trap is the line above the numbers. The basis changes from product to product: per 100 g, per bag, per serving or per piece. In the diagram, 52 kcal is one 10 g biscuit, not the pack of twelve. Read the atari line, literally 'per', before you compare two products.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| このお菓子、一枚何キロカロリー？ | Kono okashi, ichimai nan-kirokarorī? | How many calories in one of these biscuits? |
| それ、百グラム当たりの数字だよ。 | Sore, hyaku-guramu atari no sūji da yo. | That figure's per hundred grams. |
| 塩分はどのくらいですか。 | Enbun wa dono kurai desu ka. | How much salt is in it? |
Common mistakes when reading Japanese food labels
Hearing shōmi and shōhi as one word. Both begin with shō and end in kigen, so the ear merges them. Look at the second kanji: 味, taste, or 費, spending.
Reading 26.10.05 as day, month, year. Learners from countries that start with the day read it as the 26th. Japanese dates run big to small, year first.
Treating both dates alike, so a biscuit one day past its shōmi kigen goes in the bin while a bento is kept past its shōhi kigen. English best before and use by are easy to blur too. Remember the timeline: one line is taste, the other is safety.
Comparing a per-piece figure with a per-100 g figure. The basis line is small and easy to skip. Read the atari line first.
Taking kokunai seizō to mean grown in Japan. Kokunai is domestic, but seizō is manufacture. Look for kokusan or a place name if origin matters to you. Discount stickers and the rhythm of evening markdowns belong to a separate guide to the supermarket.