TOKYO - AS JAPANESE tighten their belts in this tough economic winter, saving a few yen on a fizzy drink can be a windfall - even if it's been sitting on the shelf for two years.

The Japanese have long been known for paying top prices for fine food but a growing number are becoming less fastidious about taste and quality as they get thrifty in the recession.

Dusty cans of food, seasoning and two-year-old soft drinks with grey residue inside all sell for less than a dollar in a corner of the Sankei Super store called 'Mottainai!' or 'Too good to be wasted!'

'Quite a lot of people young and old come to our store because our products are really cheap while being still edible,' said Tatsuhiro Mizuno, the manager of the store, which is located in a working-class district.

'Although we already sell products at a discount here, customers are always looking for cheaper, cheaper products and come for the price rather than the taste,' he added.

He said that the store was careful not to sell anything beyond the expiry date, which would break safety laws.

Even on a weekday, the shop bustles with activity in a neighbourhood where elderly ladies sit in creaky half-lit stores trying to eke out a living selling fresh home-made food.

Despite the wealth in Tokyo, the Japanese are proud of their tradition of thrift, with families relating stories about how they survived near famine conditions in the aftermath of World War II.

Sankei Super's idea was launched several years ago by Mr Mizuno's father who, having survived the war, wanted to end the wastefulness in Japan which leads to 22 million tonnes of food being thrown away each year.

'My father grew up living on discarded food during the war, and he thought it terrible that Japan wastes millions of tonnes of food when there are famished people around the world,' said Mr Mizuno.

A December poll conducted by Yahoo Japan said that 80 per cent of the 60,775 respondents supported the scheme.

Thousands of Japanese have lost their jobs as overseas demand dries up for its exports in a recession which some fear could be even worse than the downturn in the 1990s.

Cost-conscious consumer Kuniko Nagatsuka, 45, said she stayed away from home on cold days to save on heating costs.

'I walk around or go to a coffee shop because if I stay at home I would be turning on the heat for five hours. So if I stay out, that's how much I would have saved. I think next year is going to get worse,' the housewife said.

Another shopper in her 60s said she had cut down on medication, leisure and unnecessary goods and food.

'I've lived for 60 years but this slump is so much worse than before with young people being laid off at such a fast pace. I'm on the lookout for the cheapest products,' she said, declining to give her name.

Major grocery stores and convenience store chains are beginning to follow Sankei Super's lead.

Itochu Corp, which owns a controlling interest in convenience store chain FamilyMart, recently started an online service marketing food that is about to expire, is out of season or has damaged packaging.

The 'Eco-Mottainai.com' project is expected to generate revenue of 10 billion yen (S$166 million) in a few years, a spokesman said.

Lawson, a major convenience store operator, has launched a line of stores selling produce for 100 yen, or a little over a dollar.

7-Eleven, Japan's biggest convenience store chain, has started introducing more frozen foods and has launched two 100-yen discount stores called The Price.

'Customers have tightened their purse strings due to this year's high oil prices and more recently the recession which has changed consumption patterns,' said Minoru Matsumoto, a spokesman for the chain's operator Seven & I Holdings.

The discount brand 'has had a very positive reaction and so the demand for more stores may exceed our expectations,' he said. -- AFP