I completely understand that some of the Japanese ingredients that I use in my recipes are hard to find especially if you live in an area without a large Japanese population.  I try my best to suggest other ingredients that you can substitute with on the recipe post. You can also find my general suggestions on this page.  However, I hope you understand that some recipes call for certain ingredients/seasonings because they work best and I want to keep my recipes as authentic as possible.  So please try your best to use the specified items whenever possible to achieve the best results, and if you still can’t find them, please substitute with what you have, or leave your question on the blog post.