A Late-Night Ice Cream Run: Surviving Summer in Nagoya
Nagoya summers are no joke. This week has been the kind of hot where even a quick trip to the car feels like a health decision. The TV has been broadcasting heat warnings and reminding people to avoid going out unless necessary — so our household has been doing exactly that. Kids home, doing homework, then games. Repeat.
But keeping children cooped up indoors all of July eventually gets to you. So one evening, once the sun finally went down and the temperature dropped to something approaching reasonable, we made a family call: supermarket ice cream run.
The Supermarket at Night Hits Different
We go to this supermarket all the time during the day, so seeing it at night — quieter, fewer people, a slightly different atmosphere — turned into a small adventure for the kids. They didn’t say anything, but you could see it on their faces. Sometimes a tiny change in routine is all it takes to make an ordinary place feel new.
Japan’s Ice Cream Aisle Is Serious Business
If you haven’t stood in front of a Japanese supermarket freezer in summer, add it to your list. There were cups, cones, bars, monaka, popsicles, shaved ice — everything from longtime classics to limited editions we’d never seen before. The selection was genuinely impressive.
One thing worth knowing: ice cream at Japanese supermarkets and drug stores typically runs about ¥100–¥140 per item, noticeably cheaper than convenience stores. Summer is peak limited-edition season, so the timing was good.
What We Each Picked
The kids made a beeline for the Meiji Essel Super Cup Choco Cookie — a Toy Story collaboration with Buzz Lightyear on the lid. I’m fairly certain the packaging was part of the appeal, and honestly, fair enough.
I went for two: a Glico Giant Cone for the chocolate and crunch, and a Marunaga Yame Matcha Monaka that caught my eye. The matcha monaka was the highlight of the night. Yame matcha has a deep, grassy bitterness that doesn’t get washed out by the cold — it held its own all the way through. The monaka shell stayed crispy too. Not too sweet. I’d buy it again without hesitation.
For my husband, I didn’t even need to deliberate. He loves condensed milk, so when I spotted the Morinaga Condensed Milk Ice, I grabbed it immediately. That’s what years of living together gets you — instant, accurate snack selection.
Why the Supermarket (and Not the Convenience Store)
This is one of those small but useful Japan life notes. The same ice cream that costs ¥180–¥200 at a convenience store is often ¥100–¥140 at a supermarket or drug store. When four people are each picking something, those 30–50 yen differences add up. The variety is usually better too.
It wasn’t a big outing. But on a week when stepping outside feels like it requires preparation, a quiet supermarket run after dark, everyone with cold hands and their own ice cream — that’s a summer win.
