A Huge Japanese Market Just Opened in Tysons
Marufuji. 8520 Leesburg Pike, Vienna
A one-stop shop for wagyu, sashimi, and all the Japanese snacks you could dream of is now open in Tysons. Marufuji, a spinoff of a small family-owned grocery chain that started in Connecticut, offers around 18,000 square feet of Japanese products, plus a cafe for chirashi or curry bowls. While Northern Virginia has a number of pan-Asian grocery stores specializing in Korean, Chinese, or Vietnamese products, this is the first large grocery store in the area dedicated to all things Japanese.
The specialty chain, known as Maruichi elsewhere, has a handful of locations along the East Coast. For the DC area debut, the owners changed the name to Marufuji to avoid confusion with a Japanese grocery in Rockville also called Maruichi. “We don’t want to fight with them or cause conflict with them,” VP Joshua Nakama. “We made sure to choose a location that was far enough away where we wouldn’t take any of their customers.”
Among the big draws: dozens of varieties of sushi-grade fish flown in from Toyosu Market in Japan or sourced domestically, like bluefin tuna from Boston. The store will offer three types of uni, including smaller trays from $40 to $50 and super deluxe options closer to $200.
The store will also offer Japanese wagyu in addition to Sakura Wagyu from wagyu cows raised in Wisconsin. “The cool thing about them is they actually don’t even do the slaughtering and shipping until we order, and so it’s some of the freshest beef you’re going to see in America,” Nakama says.
Inspired by the markets in the basements of Japanese department stores, Marufuji will also have a display of side dishes such as seaweed salads, kabocha squash salad, or chili shrimp that you can buy by the pound.
Meanwhile, the shelves are filled with pretty much everything you can think of: pickles, noodles, fresh produce, bonito flakes, natto, instant ramen, and tons of snacks such as spicy garlic rice crackers or matcha Kit Kats. There’s an entire wall of rice and an aisle full of sauces. Of particular note, says Nakama, is marudaizu soy sauce. Whereas big-brand soy sauces tend to use a soy byproduct, this soy is made the old-fashioned way with whole soy beans. “The marudaizu is much more round, not so salty. It’s more nuanced. It’s more expressive,” he says.
Marufuji directly imports many products directly from Japan, meaning you won’t find them elsewhere in the area. For example, the store carries an entire series of non-alcoholic canned Suntory wines and high-balls. It also direct-imports cheesecake-esque “butter cakes” from Hokkaido, which is famous for its high-quality dairy. (Find them in the frozen dessert section.)
A grab-and-go area will offer sushi, onigiri, and bento boxes, but there’s also a 48-seat cafe where you can order tonkatsu curry, wagyu-topped gyudon rice bowls, sushi handrolls, and chirashi bowls with salmon and ikura. The cafe also serves matcha lattes and Ogawa Coffee from Kyoto.
The store will do tastings and demos with some of its vendors from time to time. One to look out for in the future: a whole-tuna-cutting demonstration.
Lastly, there’s an entire section of home goods, where you’ll find Japanese beauty products, ceramics, kitchenware, and cute gifts like Pokemon socks and Shiba Inu dog tote bags.
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