On Old Henderson Road in Columbus, Ohio, nestled within an outlet area you can stumble upon, you find Japan Marketplace. The center is small but packs a lot of Japan in just six shops and restaurants surrounding a small courtyard.

Japan Market place hosts restaurants Akai Hana, Sushi Ten, and Tensuke Ramen; the cafe and bakery Belle’s Bread, and the shops Tensuke Market and J Avenue. Akai Hana is known for being one of Central Ohio’s first Japanese restaurant when it was opened in 1987 by Takashi Takenaka. Mr. Takenaka moved to America after growing up in a small town in Japan. An avid fisher, he reports wanting to share his love of seafood and Japanese culture which propelled his move to the states and the establishment of Akai Hana and the eventual expansion to the rest of the shops. They are designed with care to share the culture and traditions of Japan from their cuisine to products in the shops.

I was lucky to get to wander through the market, J Avenue, and Belle’s Bread but with time closed for lunch hours, I was unable to try the restaurants at this time. Let’s take a walk through Tensuke, J Avenue and Belle’s Bread.

Tensuke Market

Tensuke is the largest Japanese grocery store in Ohio and in two rooms that connect with Sushi Ten, a carry out sushi place. Here you have a few aisles in a space that fits a lot for the smaller space it occupies. You immediately start in the grab and go section that hosts food prewrapped and ready to eat from the surrounding restaurants and more. You’ll be able to find options from sushi, onigiri, bento boxes, tempura, kimchi, and other sandwiches to enjoy. You can also find desserts from Belle’s Bread to grab and go, which is great during Belle’s busy hours. They come in various flavors and all were tempting with matching cases for drinks and sodas found in Japan. You can wander down to find different alcoholic options in beautiful bottles. They also supply raw and ready to cook meats, vegetables, snacks, pharmaceuticals, beauty products, and some cookware like chopsticks. You can find what you need for a few days meals and snacking from things you’ll need to prepare to precooked things like ramen, and also cold dessert options like ice creams and mochi. Anyone wanting to experience a taste of Japan at home can find what they need here.

J Avenue

Inspired by nature.

A heart of service.

The beauty of Japan.

Stepping into the gift shop you get a calm feeling and as you begin browsing the products on display, it will feel like exactly what you would expect from a Japanese gift shop trying to share Japan with you. You get character displays from Studio Ghibli, Pokemon, popular animes, and more that sell household products, models, and toys. You keep stepping through to find home display and houseware items that will give your home a certain aesthetic. You can find incents and holders of many scents, moods or energies you want to cultivate. You can choose from cute bowls and tea sets.

As you wander deeper into the store, you’ll find kitchen wares and many inspired tools that will help with cooking dishes native to Japan and more. You’ll find them opposite many beauty and bath products to promote clean living and self care.

You can circle back to start finding stationary and journals that bleed into jewelry from local artists and from overseas.

The store keeps it’s promise and provides a calming experience for all shoppers with products that will transport their senses to a version of Japan brought here to Ohio.

Belle’s Bread

Takashi Takenaka’s wife is French and Belle’s Bread is a perfect marriage of their cultures. It offers Japanese and French inspired bakery and deli items that encompass a culture of beauty in everything. Artful arrangements of multi ingredient items that all are beautiful, no matter what ingredients go into the make up. Elegant and refined items that are not priced to break the bank, you can either grab prewrapped favorites from the shelves and cold shelves, or grab a cake and cold items at the counter. You also can order a fresh made crepe, ice cream, coffees, smoothies, and more cafe items.

I was lucky to get to try a bit of a wild variety of items from this popular bakery. I ordered the berry crepe with the strawberry syrup for my fresh make adventure. I also grabbed the egg salad and cucumber sandwich, the frank roll, ham and onion roll, croquette sandwich, a curry and egg donut round, and their chocolate chip cookies.

The crepe was a filling item in its own right. filled with cream and multiple berries, this large item can also come wrapped in a cone to be eaten on the go and served with a scoop of ice cream. You can choose between vanilla, chocolate or matcha(green tea). I skipped the ice cream this time with all the other items I had to try, even as my first meal of the day, I had as lot to get through. The crepe was light and the berries tasted fresh while I did expect them to be frozen. There are many other flavors for visitors to try as well like cookies and cream, banana, nutella, and azuki (red bean. Check out the history of red bean in our This Food in History dedicated to it!).

I don’t have much to say about my egg salad other than I can’t believe it goes so well with cucumber. I’ve had it with watercress in England but not cucumber and it paired very well. It’s a good grab and go sandwich to pick that is refreshing and light to eat.

The Frank roll was just fun. It’s literally a hot dog poking out of a closed roll with ketchup, mayo and panko on top. The ketchup did overpower the flavors but the roll was baked well and the frank was as one would expect of a hot dog.

The Ham and Onion roll was a favorite of the rolls this round. Ham and onion is a flavor palate I already like, with a savory roll that housed the ham, with the onion baked into the top. This was a savory delight that would easily fill one up that was looking for food between meals.

The curry donut with egg housed the biggest surprise. I knew it had a hard boiled egg in it but I expected this to be chopped up. It wasn’t. It was a literal half egg, in half egg shape just chilling inside the donut on top of the curry mixture and lord did it pair super well and taste really good. The egg was cooler than the rest of the curry and donut and brought a bit of a refreshing taste to the mix. I would recommend trying this at least once.

I have eaten croquettes from Tous le Jour, a Korean French bakery, and I was used to their version where it’s just a patty to grab and go. Belle’s version was inside a bun and vegetarian. the mashed potato was crispy outside, and super soft inside and mixed with veggies and a nice tasty that had many different pockets of taste that you would bit into inconsistently. I believe I would have liked this as a patty as well but the bun and other toppings made it more fun.

Lastly I had the cookies that were brittle and thin. I opted for chocolate chip while there were other flavors. These are simple cookies that are great for people that love a crispy cookie to snap into. The chocolate chips were large and flavorful.

I hope to get to return to Japan Marketplace soon to try my true goal that day (though poorly planned) Tensuke Ramen. I also hope to hit the flagship restaurant, Akai Hana. This area is worth a visit from any Columbus traveler hoping to experience a bit of Japan here in Ohio. I hope that Takashi Takenaka and his wife know how much their goals and dream was realized in this little corner of the city.