How to find out about seasonal food offerings in Japan

Something I adore about living in Japan is the real focus on seasonality with food here – especially when it comes to fun, limited-time offerings. Certain flavors are heavily associated with different times of year here, such as choc-mint during the summer months, sweet potato, pumpkin, and chestnut during fall, and sakura during spring.

If you enjoy tracking down seasonal eats here, or you're new to the seasonal eats game and wondering where to start, these are my recommendations for places to find what goodies are available and when.

Convenience store websites

Convenience stores here are brilliant for so many reasons, and one of them is the wealth of seasonal goodies you can find on their shelves. It's quite easy to find out what is being released via their official websites, such as Lawson's Uchi Cafe range, Seven Eleven, and Family Mart.

Individual brand websites

A lot of companies also release seasonal goodies in addition to their regular menus, and perusing those will give you the scoop about what's available and when. Some of my favorites that release fun seasonal eats all the time include:

• Mister Donut – they have a bunch of autumn themed donuts that were just released, and they typically do releases for Halloween, Christmas, and more.
• Starbucks Japan – their website lists out their current seasonal fraps and hot drinks, and they're always coming up with new and inventive flavors year after year. Their current chestnut and cassis frap was interesting!
• Tully's – another coffee chain that often releases seasonal drinks and desserts.
• McDonalds – for those seeking a fast food fix, McDonalds Japan also typically offers seasonally-themed burgers, drinks, McFlurries, and more depending on the time of year.

These are the newest releases at Mister Donut for this season – reviews coming soon!

Press releases

It's also quite easy to explore press releases for early information about new releases coming to store shelves. My favorite source for this is PR Times, and they have a specific "gourmet" section which outlines new food releases and food-based events. Sweet potato is also a trending keyword on their site at the moment, so you can explore that for up-to-date information on everything potato-based at this time of year. The site is in Japanese, but even if your Japanese reading skills aren't great it's easy to navigate if you're using Google Chrome – I just automatically translate everything in my browser.

Another thing I really love about this site is that it outlines fancy seasonal events like high teas at hotels, and they're a great way to enjoy an indulgent and seasonally-themed meal.

What are your favorite ways of finding out about seasonal goodies hitting shelves in Japan? Do you do any research beforehand, or do you wing it and just see what's available?