Tortilla Chips (Part 5)
I have yet another update on tortilla chips in Japan. Costco’s Organic Tortilla Chips have been back in stock lately, and they do not fly off the shelves because there has been a significant price increase.
Prices have been going up worldwide, not just in Japan. The rise in prices at Costco Japan have been particularly noticeable, perhaps because prices of imports are affected by the weak yen. I last purchased chips at Costco on November 13th, paying 1,148 JPY per bag. Taking the exchange rate into account, this is a significant price increase:
| Date | JPY/100g | USD/100g |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-07-26 | 62 | 0.55 |
| 2022-11-13 | 102 | 0.70 |
Here are the current prices:
| Location | Store/Brand | JPY/100g | USD/100g |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | Gyomu Super | 95 | 0.65 |
| Japan | Costco | 102 | 0.70 |
| Texas | H-E-B | 110 | 0.75 |
| Japan | Kaldi | 207 | 1.41 |
The H-E-B chips in Texas are by far my favorite, and I enjoy them whenever I visit Texas. The Kaldi chips are quite good, but I very rarely purchase any because of the high cost. I usually purchase the Costco chips, which are much lower in quality and are way too salty. I occasionally purchase Gyomu Super chips, which are unsalted but have a sub-par flavor.