**This post contains affiliate links.**

I enjoy living in Japan quite a bit. Cheap Japanese food, beautiful scenery, hearing and seeing Japanese everywhere. I love it! But living here isn’t without its challenges. Namely, finding foreign goods at reasonable prices. 

With Japan as an island nation, it’s a bit isolated from the rest of the world, which makes imports expensive. And as an American, it’s tough finding some products that were commonplace in the U.S. but are nowhere to be seen in Japan.

And then I found iHerb.

What is iHerb?

iHerb is a website that aims to make health and wellness products available worldwide. According to their website, they deliver to 185+ countries, operating in 16 different languages, 86 currencies, and 38 payment options. For people looking for quality natural, organic, or even common American toiletries and foods, iHerb is by far the best place to get your foreign health and wellness items. 

I’ve been using iHerb regularly for years now, and I’ve been impressed by the quality and selection of their products. I first started using iHerb to buy vitamins and supplements. Compared to the U.S., Japan has much stricter regulations on vitamins available for purchase. For example, Japan doesn’t really sell zinc or magnesium supplements (from what I’ve noticed, anyway), which I take on a regular basis. iHerb, however, provides more than enough selection of vitamins, minerals, and brands. These days, I buy most of my skincare, specialty diet foods, supplements, and American toiletries from iHerb.

What can I buy from iHerb?

Vitamins & Supplements

As I mentioned before, I buy all my vitamins and supplements from iHerb. I primarily order this Vitamin A&D complex from Now Foods, as well as this Calcium & Magnesium with Vitamin D3 and Zinc. But you can find nearly any vitamin, mineral, or supplement on iHerb. From omega-3 fish oil to melatonin, to ashwagandha and peppermint capsules. I’ve even ordered Culturelle Probiotics for gut health. Whatever supplement you need, iHerb has some form of it available. 

Specialty Diet Foods

One of the great benefits of living in the U.S. is the easy access to specialty diet foods. Gluten-free, vegan, sugar-free, organic, keto…the U.S. has done a fantastic job at creating these types of products and distributing them throughout grocery stores nationwide. It’s a great time to have special dietary needs…

…Until you move to another country, that is. Unlike the U.S., most of the rest of the world has been slower to adopt these specialty foods in their markets. Japan is no different. I’m technically gluten-sensitive, and generally ate gluten-free bread, pasta, and such in America. Japan, however, has almost no specifically gluten-free foods. And from what they do have, it’s not nearly as tasty. (Rice bread is fine as toast, but it’s just not good as normal “bread.”)

iHerb sells a lot of the specialty diet foods that you might need. For example, I can’t buy gluten-free bread, but I can buy GF all-purpose flour like this one from Red Mill. I’ve also come to depend on this GF protein pancake mix from FlapJacked.

You can also buy products like coconut oil, vegan snack foods, spices, specialty butter, flaxseed, egg white powder, and all sorts of other foods that I never even knew existed. It’s my favorite place to buy specialty health foods at a…more reasonable price overseas.

**And if you just want a box of Cheerios or Chex (homemade Chex mix, anyone?), you can also buy those classic cereals on iHerb.**

Skincare & Toiletries

One thing people don’t think about when moving to Japan is toiletry items. Generally, I would recommend finding a local brand of shampoo, soap, toothpaste, etc. in the country you moved to. And for Japan at least, hygiene is a huge priority. As such, most Japanese skincare, haircare, and other toiletry products are pretty high quality. 

However, there are those times when you just want products from your home country, and that’s fine! But you’re probably not going to find them in your local supermarket. 

I actually buy a lot of Korean skincare because it just works best for my skin. (I like Cosrx, iUnik, Dear, Klairs, and Missha.) But finding K-beauty products in Japan is, at times, a hassle, and often more expensive. So, I order most of my skincare from iHerb. It’s more convenient to have it sent to me directly at a slightly lower price. 

I also order ALL my deodorant from iHerb. In my experience, Japanese deodorant is just not strong enough for my western, Caucasian body. (You can learn more about the importance of good deodorant in my blog post about summer in Japan.) My western friends, if you have a deodorant brand that works for you, I strongly recommend you just continue buying that. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. I like this one from Arm & Hammer. But you can find almost any brand, honestly: Secret, Tom’s, Crystal, Schmidt’s, Old Spice, Dove, Gillette… If you want it, iHerb probably has it.

Protein Powder & Workout Supplements

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably noticed that I go bouldering in my free time. It’s one of the ways I stay fit. As a fitness person, protein powder is a huge part of my routine.

Finding protein powder overseas can really be hit or miss, I think. Japan has one main brand, SAVAS, that is pretty popular here, but I haven’t been able to let go of the brands I used to buy in the U.S. (I’m looking at you, Optimum Nutrition). I just like them better. 

iHerb has a wide assortment of protein powders, including whey (concentrates and isolates), creatine, organic, egg white, rice, and several other vegan protein powders. It also carries a number of BCAA, pre- and post-workout, and electrolyte supplements. 

I will say that these sports supplements are expensive, more so than in the U.S. But if you really gotta have your vegan protein powder like my lactose-intolerant self (or your Optimum Nutrition creatine powder), iHerb is the most reliable place to get it. 

Get 10% off your first order!

iHerb has honestly been such a valuable resource for me since moving to Japan, and I really can’t recommend it enough. If you want to try iHerb out for yourself, you can get 10% off your first order using my personal link below. (I would receive a small commission from your purchase. 😊 )

If you’re already an iHerb customer, then feel free to use this link to get 5% off your order! iHerb does often have great discount codes and sales, but sometimes the codes don’t work for certain items, which can be a bummer. For those times, go ahead and use my personal link to get a 5% discount. It’s not a lot, but it’s better than nothing!

Go ahead and try iHerb for yourself! I think it’s a fantastic resource, but you can be the judge of that. Happy shopping!