Japanese Snack Reviews

Lotte Fresh Chocolate Yukimi Daifuku Ice Cream

2012-01-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

Remember on Monday when I said winter is the time for chocolate? That applies to ice cream, too, though I'm guessing that this is not due to a lack of refrigeration in the supply trucks as I speculated about other types of chocolate snacks in the previous post. Maybe chocolate is a winter food because it tends to make you fat if you eat a lot of it and being fatter when it's cold provides much

Random Picture #97

2012-01-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

There is an unintentional theme to this week and it is winter and chocolate. One of the most awesome ones is Meltykiss. Since these are so, well, melty, they only come out when the temperature gets cool enough for naked snuggling under the covers to induce desirable warmth instead of sticky sweatiness. This bin shows three flavors - chocolate, strawberry, and green tea. Several of my

Winter Kuchidoke Pocky

2012-01-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

For an interview on Japanese snacks that I did quite some time ago, I was asked about seasonal variations in Japan. At that time, I had a bit less of a handle on it than I do now, but there are certain very predictable offerings based on the time of year. In spring, the cherry flavors come out to play as a way of saying, "cherry blossoms are coming, so please enjoy them with this

Morinaga Yuzu-cha

2012-01-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

There is a tendency among those who are not native to a culture to take assertions from media as if the natives are taking them at face value. This tea, for instance, is marketed as something which is meant to help conserve energy in these days of nuclear-disaster-induced cutbacks (setsuden). Of course, it seems that winter isn't really a big time of year for setsuden as most trains, shops,

Shameless (Non-Self) Promotion

2012-01-18T19:00:00.000-08:00

Most people are familiar with the Rashomon effect either by that particular term or as the old statement about there being three sides to every story, yours, mine, and the truth. In Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon movie, he attempted to illustrate this concept in his own inimitable way. Personally, I think some "truths" are too big to be known or understood by any one person and that such truths are

Random Picture #96

2012-01-18T08:00:00.000-08:00

Clover, a patisserie/cake shop offers dragon-themed fukubukuro. This is the year of the dragon, in case the obvious wasn't hitting you on the head hard enough. That is not my hand or coat, incidentally. This picture is slightly late in coming along, but I figure that as long as it is January, I can sneak in some New Year's shots. My husband and I went to Tokyu department store in Shibuya,

Pumpkin Cheesecake KitKat

2012-01-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

Quite some time ago, I got an e-mail from a reader who wasn't keen on my coverage of extremely strange Japanese snacks who said that he wasn't really interested in that sort of weirdness, but rather in things like the unusual Pepsi and KitKat flavors. I can understand that as many people may prefer to hear about novelty a few standard deviations from the norm rather than gag-fodder that

Marumiya Pandaful Italian Pizza Topping

2012-01-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

Many moons ago when I was in my early years in Japan and working at Nova, I used to go out for yakitori a lot with coworkers. We bonded over our collective ignorance and struggled together with the language. Somehow, everyone managed to cobble together an order. I learned that "dai jockey" was what people said when they wanted a big glass of beer. I also learned that bars never sold diet

Random Picture #95

2012-01-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

This seems to be the year that the 7 lucky gods are hitting center stage in Japanese marketing ploys. While walking home from a local shrine on New Year's Eve, I saw a poster featuring them. Each individual god is not unusual to see, especially Ebisu, who has his own beer in addition to being placed in front of various establishments. Unless you are on a pilgrimage to the groups of shrines

Echigoseika Funwari Meijin (Kinako Sembei)

2012-01-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

There are few things in Japan which I consider to be a type of food crack for me. In fact, I think that even using "crack" to talk about the addictive quality of certain things is monumentally over-used by people. I don't think I've ever needed to use that term before. There is a first time for everything. Echigoseika makes several varieties of "fluffy" (funwari) sembei. In fact, I'm not

Lotte Custard Cake and Choco Pie

2012-01-06T08:00:00.000-08:00

The unusual source of these snacks. This is after my husband toppled two of them into the prize bin. One of the great things about my husband starting to play claw games for the fun and challenge is that it encourages me to sample snacks for reasons other than they happen to be on store shelves. Last week, we were out for a late night stroll and stopped by the local game center. They had a

Random Picture #94

2012-01-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

Peacock "lucky bags". They're stapled shut, but the notion of there being a surprise was rather undermined by the neighboring display. Last year, my husband and I went a little crazy and bought three "lucky bags" (fukubukuro). For the two or three people who haven't heard me prattle about these before, they are grab bags that are sold around the new year which include a variety of items

Tirol Premium Ichigo Daifuku Chocolate

2012-01-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

Ichigo (strawberry) daifuku is one of the most popular Japanese traditional sweets. When my husband and I were doing one of our day trips to a random unimportant train station, we ran across a shop that was lovingly hand-crafting them behind a window in Nishi-Ogikubo. Daifuku is a bit of pounded rice cake (like very soft taffy in texture, but bland in taste) which is filled with sweetened

Variety Friday: Japanese Hospital Food

2011-12-30T08:00:00.000-08:00

Before I entered the hospital on December 20, one of my friends remarked that she believed that Japanese hospital food was better than American hospital food. I can't make such a comparison because my only experience with American hospital food was when I was 12 and had a tonsillectomy. Like many kids who were going to have their tonsils out, I was promised ice cream to soothe my sore throat and

Random Picture #94

2011-12-28T08:00:00.000-08:00

With Christmas having come along last weekend, my husband and I were on the prowl for whole chickens to bake up for a festive meal. People love to show insanely expensive fruit in Japan, but they have nothing on the price of a whole chicken. Despite the fact that it takes more effort to dismember a bird than leave it intact, they are always very pricey. This one, which was the biggest we

Starbucks Azuki Matcha Latte

2011-12-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

One of the things that Japan used to be famous for was copious numbers of free samples. There was a time, in days gone by, that foreigners would remark that a trip through the food areas of a department store (the basement) would net you so many samples that you could get a free lunch. I'm here to say that those days are long, long gone. Samples are offered on occasion, but the only places

Variety Friday: Best of the Best

2011-12-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

How much do I love Heart Chiple? I bought this gigantic bag (50 cm./20 in.) full of garlic chip goodness at Don Quixote. That's a 30-cm. ruler (about a foot). By the time you read this, I should be busting myself out of a Japanese hospital after having had surgery on December 20. Because I have been busier than ever during the lead up to this surgery, I'm bringing a list out of the buffer which

Random Picture #93

2011-12-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

There are so many Christmas and holiday-themed snacks around that I have a ton of pictures that will never see the light of this web site. It seems that every year there is just a little more Christmas in Japan and I really am happy to see it. Yes, I know it's all crass commercialism, but I try to look at the positive side of it; there are more shiny, pretty packages with warm holiday themes

Muji Amashoku

2011-12-19T08:00:00.000-08:00

When you think movie snacks, you're probably thinking popcorn, M & M's, chocolate-covered raisins, or some sort of candy that can be shoveled into your mouth in small bits such as to mislead you about the true amount you are consuming. You probably aren't thinking "Japanese baked goods", but this amashoku (sweet bun) was purchased for me to consume during a viewing of Mission Impossible IV:

Tohato Tyrant Habanero Spicy Cheese Crackers

2011-12-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

Have you ever kept a pepper in the refrigerator for far too long? They get all soft and shriveled up. In the end, you've got a flaccid item which is a shadow of its former self. If the red pepper graphic on this bag were truly representative of the flavor of the snack inside, it'd look like one of the aforementioned aged peppers. Of course, I was unaware of this when I decided to pick up

Random Picture #92

2011-12-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas tins, tubs and boots are out in force in Japanese supermarkets. Most kids get only one Christmas present in Japan, and I guess this might be one of them. I have an odd fascination with these things. There's something neat about the large volume of snacks settled in these things, though the truth is that most of the food in them is pretty low-rent stuff and the whole is not worth

Tohato All Azuki Cookies

2011-12-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

I once said that I was on a quest to sample all of the "All (Fruit)" line of cookies and then I promptly forgot that this was one of my snack blog missions. In fact, I forgot that I had any missions of any sort, but perhaps all of the incessant commercials playing in Shinjuku station for the newest Mission Impossible movie sparked my memory. I must say that I wonder if it costs more to run

Mister Donut Snow Doll (Man) Donut

2011-12-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

How cute... there's snow on his nose! Wait, that's not snow... I hope everyone enjoyed the togarashi mayo rice chips review on Monday. I chose that to offset the utterly bland and typical nature of today's review of a new Christmas donut offering by the fine folks at MisDo. They're offering several flavor variations on this snowman concoction, but none of them is really something to get all

Random Picture #91

2011-12-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

Regional KitKats would be a lot more impressive to me if they were actually confined to the region they supposed spawn from within. As it is, no one is exactly zealously guarding carrying them over the borders of one prefecture into another. In fact, no one seems to be stopping them from being sold at every major station in Tokyo and in particular at Narita airport. That's okay. I think the

Kameda Seika Togarashi Mayonnaise Rice Snack

2011-12-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

Since I was a psychology major and continue to study psychology of my own volition to this day, I often run across various studies and theories about human behavior. One of them is that choice is good for people, but too much choice is very stressful for them. Having three types of chip to choose from is good. Having 20 is just going to make you stand in the aisle biting your nails trying to

Yaokin Vegetable Salad Umaibo

2011-12-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

Some time ago, I bought a variety pack of Yaokin salted snacks which included 5 varieties of "umaibo". "Umai" is "delicious" and "bo" means stick. I figured that this would cover pretty much all of the umaibo I'd ever want or need to sample. These are very cheap kid's snacks, and tend to be a bit greasy, nicely crispy, and fairly flavorful. Their main appeal is in the texture, which is a large

Random Picture #90

2011-11-30T08:00:00.000-08:00

I love the fact that I work near two shops that specialize in regional foods. It allows me to see stuff which is marginally different than that which is sold in Tokyo with different packaging. Take this "Imorin Monroe" sweet potato cakes from Hokkaido. Inside, they are the same old common long-shelf-life sweet potato cakes that you can buy at almost every convenience store and supermarket,

KitKat Air In White

2011-11-28T08:00:00.000-08:00

My husband recently went home to visit his family and take care of some business in the U.S. Being your faithful snack blogger, I remained in Japan all alone so that I might purchase junk food and write about it. Okay, you know that is a big, fat lie. I stayed here because the fuel surcharges are so expensive that we couldn't afford two tickets to paradise. The point is that he brought me

Chestnut Oreo Chocolate Bar

2011-11-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

Back when I was a kid, in the late 1400's, "Oreo" meant one kind of cookie. Of course, when I was a kid, it meant one kind of cookie that my mother never bought because we were too poor for name brand snacks. When she bought "sandwich cookies", they were the store or generic brands which came in enormous packages and cost 99 cents. There were usually three rows of them, two ostensibly

Random Picture #89

2011-11-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

Click to see a bigger version. Shakey's Pizza is inexplicably popular in Japan. Well, that's not quite true. There's an explanation, but it doesn't really make a lot of sense in a country of relatively affluent people with ready access to good quality food. They are mainly popular for their incredibly crappy lunch buffet which is a festival of bad carbohydrates (fried potatoes, sparsely

Calbee Jaga Rico German Potato

2011-11-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

Prior to coming to Japan, I never thought much about the private lives of cartoon mascots. Most of them really didn't require a back story. They just appeared on the front of the product package and looked deliriously happy at the prospect of consuming whatever was tucked inside. Of course, Cap'n Crunch is the exception. Back in his younger days, he was the surliest swab who ever scrubbed a

Kkul Tarae (honey skein) Walnut and Chocolate Court Cake

2011-11-18T08:00:00.000-08:00

Before I get too far in this review, I should state that this is not Japanese, but Korean. One of my students visited Korea for 5 days of sauna, massage, shopping, and luxury hotel enjoyment. This is a very popular course of action for young Japanese women these days since Korea is a hop, skip and a short swim away, though most take a cheap plane flight. It's well-recommended for vigorous

Random Picture #88

2011-11-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year... well, not really, but Japan has caught up with the U.S. on offering up Christmas the minute the detritus of Halloween has been swept aside (which happens about 3 seconds after the shops close on October 31). Krispy Kreme is doing its part by re-issuing two of the three donuts it offered last year along with a mont blanc (chestnut cream) offering. The Christmas

Pepsi Pink

2011-11-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

The fine folks at Pepsi continue to attempt to distinguish their brand image from Coca-cola's by offering up another uncommon flavor. Of course, this time, it's actually not particularly "uncommon" though since it is strawberry. Perhaps they have seen the lack of imagination at Nestle Japan with all of the strawberry KitKats and have decided to get themselves some of that boring, boring

Yamazakipan Kabocha Danish

2011-11-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, which is the loveliest squash of all? Is it American pumpkin, as it is rolled into pies, danishes, donuts and anything which wears cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger like a scrawny high fashion model wears a ridiculous outfit? Is it Japanese pumpkin, which pairs so well with soy sauce and mirin and studs any dish it appears in with creamy delight? The truth is that both

Random Picture #87

2011-11-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

Yeah, my nails are a mess. I do a lot of dishes by hand. Give me a break. I've purchased taiyaki, fish-shaped cakes filled with beans, custard, or other things, before, but only in a "specialty" form using tapioca flour. I've also had a "cousin" of theirs, imagawayaki in frozen form. Despite walking past a traditional taiyaki shop several times a week, I have never purchased a fresh one for

Co-Up Guarana Zero

2011-11-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

Though I'm sure people who don't live in Japan think that there are bizarre food options lurking at the front of every shelf when you live here, that is far from the truth. This is especially the case when you've spent the last 3 years or so going out of your way to sample anything which doesn't contain shrimp (which I dislike with the intensity of a thousand suns and won't review well, and is

Dars Biscuit

2011-11-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

Living in a foreign culture, and trying hard not to be too ethnocentric makes me frame my gustatory experiences differently than I did back home. One of the things which always rubs me the wrong way is the elevation of one culture's choices over another. In particular, the idea that Japanese cuisine is carefully designed for health concerns. A culture doesn't decide to eat fish, seaweed, soy,

Random Picture #86

2011-11-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

Click to see a larger image with more detail. Halloween quietly passed Japan by, which is reasonable considering they don't actually celebrate it. However, they do know how to take advantage of a marketing opportunity and every year I see more and more items designed to get the Japanese into the Halloween spirit. Well, that's not exactly true. I don't think they know what the spirit of All

Chestnut Pucca

2011-10-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

Despite my initial reservations about the show, I found that I learned to love the T.V. series "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer". In Japan, incidentally, Fox used to promote it as "Buffy, the cross lover." Fortunately, they gave that promotional slogan as it made sound like she was doing something impure with a crucifix rather than running around stabbing vampires with bits of sharpened wood.

Befco Yuzu and Salt Sembei

2011-10-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

Before I started this blog, I was reluctant to sample a lot of Japanese foods. To be perfectly honest, I didn't know what a lot of the traditional flavors were because I just didn't pay that much attention to the food. I've tried a lot of things, and not everything has really floated my boat, but I've come to really be attracted to two flavors in particular. One is kinako, or toasted soybean

Random Picture #85

2011-10-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Japanese dedication to marketing Halloween-themed items grow just a little every year. Though they have gotten the superficial aspects down, such as applying an appropriately cuted-up All Hallow's Eve motif, they aren't quite with it on the deeper execution. All of the snacks that I've seen with themed packaging are the same products as are usually on offer with just a different bag. These

Gateau du Mont-Blanc KitKat

2011-10-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

Lately, KitKat offerings have been uninspired yawn-fests. With the exception of the Tohoku special Zunda KitKat, it's been a steady parade of dark chocolate, white chocolate, and strawberry offerings with the occasional re-issue of a seasonal flavor. If Japanese KitKats were a television show, it'd be a sitcom in which each week the story is basically the same but the characters crack the

Antonelli Cocoa Cream Italian Croissant

2011-10-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

There's a multi-lingual message on the back of this package which says: "The pictures shown are pictures of a fantasy that does not represent the contents of the package itself." You have to respect that they put some truth on the package, even though I missed this message when I first purchased this and expected something a little closer to what was pictured. Absolute truth in advertising

Random Picture #84

2011-10-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

I think something called "Rescue Water" ought to do more for you then merely relieve you of dehydration. It should contain some sort of chemical that either paralyzes attackers when you fling it in their face or puts them to sleep when you offer them a lovely beverage before they rob you ("say, Mr. Bad Guy with a knife, you've looking a little parched, can I offer you a drink before you

Morinaga Tanita Restaurant Vanilla Purin dessert

2011-10-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

The "Tanita Restaurant" brand of 100-calorie desserts has been on the shelves for awhile in Japan and I'd been hoping to get around to sampling one of them for quite some time. The main thing stopping me was the boring nature of the standard offering. It was pretty much flan or plain pudding with caramel sauce. I like flan as much as the next person, but this is a country that is drowning in

Riska Moist Chocolate Corn Snack

2011-10-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of things about actually living in Japan rather than acquiring Japanese snacks through various channels in another country which make the experience unique. One is that I can never help people out when they ask me how to find something outside of Japan. I have many opportunities to feel profoundly useless to people on multiple occasions. Another is that I have tastes which are

Random Picture #83

2011-10-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

This past Monday was a national holiday in Japan, "Sports Day." To celebrate, the overwhelming majority of adults go shopping or sit at home and watch T.V. Kids sometimes take part in school sports activities. The holiday was created after Tokyo got the 1964 Olympics. It's too bad that Tokyo didn't get another one or we may have seen another national holiday hit the calendar. Of course, since

Lotte Black Ghana

2011-10-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

Ages ago, I did a comparison of all of the basic chocolate bars in Japan. The three basic bars from the big confectioner's are Lotte's Ghana, Meiji, and Morinaga. I rated Ghana the highest, though for basic chocolate, I think "Vessel in the Fog" and Dars are the best. Vessel in the Fog, incidentally, has reappeared in shops with the end of summer. It is often hard to get, but worth picking up

Bakauke Cream Cheese Sembei

2011-10-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize this, but both of the snacks that I'm reviewing this week are white. I guess that is a reflection of the seasonal change, or perhaps I'm just turning into some freaky snack racist. It's a good thing that my next review isn't the "White Boyfriend Cat's Tongue" cookies or I'd start to feel acutely uncomfortable with my choices. I haven't reviewed sembei (rice crackers) for

Random Picture #82

2011-10-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

I've written before about portion sizes in Japan, and how they often package things to make it easier for people to eat less. This does not hold true in all cases. In fact, one of the few food areas in which large sizes is not uncommon is baked goods which are sold in convenience stores or markets. Those packaged bread-based products are often huge. One of these enormous specimens was

Shironbo

2011-10-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

A lot of people have fond recollections of their mother's home cooking and will reminisce about this or that food which no one made like mom. My mother, who grew up in a generation and location among people who felt that chicken which had any moisture in it whatsoever was a dangerous vehicle for salmonella, is a terrible cook. Every steak was suitable to sole a shoe. Every vegetable cooked to

Meiji Fruity Lemon Chocolate

2011-09-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

This review represents what is likely to be the last of the "summer" snack offerings that I'll be covering in 2011. Lemon has been the shining star of the setsuden (energy conservation) summer in Japan. Somebody somewhere decided that the sharp sourness of lemon was equated with "ice" and "cool". Perhaps you're supposed to be braced by the desire to pucker up, though I can't say that I

Random Picture #81

2011-09-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if this is as funny to others than it is to me, but the name of this product makes me think of some lewd interaction between a boss and secretary during lunch time. For those who are less perverse about what it might me to "take a break on the desk", I will say that it's a zero calorie tea (hence the big zero in the lower left corner) which I'm sure would provide a less than

QBB Dessert Cheese

2011-09-26T01:28:00.000-07:00

My character has changed a lot since coming to Japan. Part of the reason for that is age. When you transition from mid-20's to late 40's, changes are inevitable. You start talking about how people were in your day and whining about how everything was better. People were politer. The planet was cooler. Food was less mutated. People certainly could spell better. One of the many things that have

Zunda Pretz

2011-09-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

I have three words for you: Funky Monkey Babys (sic). No, they are not my new pets, but it'd be awesome if they were. And, no, I don't listen to them, as they are actually a Japanese music group. And finally, they are only tangentially related to this review (but, yes, still related). It's simply an extremely cool name for a rock group. Frankly, I think they should promote "Crunky" in Japan ("

Random Picture #80

2011-09-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Daiso is a 100-yen shop chain which is scattered all over Japan and even has a few branches in the United States. Each Daiso carries a slightly different selection than any other in my experience. This is based largely on location. The very large shop closest to my home sells no food whatsoever because it is located on the second floor of a supermarket and my guess is an arrangement was

Bourbon Marron Blanche

2011-09-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

The temperatures may still be hitting the high 90's on a daily basis, but as far as Japan is concerned, autumn has arrived. You can tell this by the fact that fashion victims are already donning their fur-lined Ugg boots and wearing sweaters and jackets designed to keep bones from catching a chill (as opposed to the thin ones worn to protect delicate pale skin from evil tanning rays). I know

Tirol W-Goen Chocolate

2011-09-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

Every culture produces a candy version of its money. I like to imagine this started with Hanukkah gelt, because that's the oldest religion I know of which includes an ongoing custom that offers up candy money. However, considering that chocolate is a New World crop, and that the ancient peoples who grew it drank it much like we drink coffee, I'm guessing that the true origins of things like

Random Picture #79

2011-09-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

Japan doesn't "do" Halloween, though over the years I have been here, it's been heading in that direction. The displays of Halloween candy are growing larger, though the candy doesn't tend to be especially positioned as Halloween flavors but rather just attractive and colorful packaging of the same old releases. There is an exception to that, and it's the pictured Japanese KitKat above. This

Kitami City White Curry Soup

2011-09-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry that I don't have a picture of the soup dissolved in a cup. It's just a white, semi-translucent fluid. It doesn't resemble any disgusting bodily fluids or anything. Nope. Kitami City is in Hokkaido and this is a souvenir package of instant consomme soup. You might ask yourself if I have been to Hokkaido lately. The answer would be "no". You might ask yourself if one of my students has

Annin Dofu and Blueberry Cheesecake KitKats (Regional)

2011-09-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

I vowed a long time ago not to seek out the regional KitKats nor to pay a premium price for them. I'm sure all of my readers will appreciate my faithfulness to this promise which has absolutely nothing to do with them and only deprives them of content they may desire. That being said, if a regional version drops in my lap at a low price, I'm not going to walk away. I may be cheap, but I'm not

Random Picture #78

2011-09-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

You can tell that the end of the summer is at hand when the Japanese sweets change over to autumnal vegetables and fruit. The moment I'm waiting for is for marron (chestnut) to start showing up everywhere. Though they aren't quite at the critical mass stage, sweet potato is making a strong showing already. This basket was on the floor of Seiyu supermarket in preparation for adding them to the

Kabaya Salt Charge Tablets

2011-09-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

Now that I only do two reviews per week, I feel somewhat obliged to choose more interesting products. I'm guessing this will last a few weeks then I'll go back to reviewing various chocolates and cookies which are not only more pedestrian, but more readily available. While talk of Japanese snacks often focuses on the bizarre, the truth is that not so much of what is on offer is all that

Cisco's Caramel Dacquoise Cookies

2011-09-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

Every time I see a product by "Cisco's", I can't help but think of "Deep Space Nine's" Captain Sisko. The Cap'n (not Crunch) character who had a father with a restaurant called "Cisco's". Somehow, I doubt that this company is populated by Star Trek geeks paying an homage to the Trek universe's only African American (and my personal favorite) captain. This doubt is supported to some extent by

Random Picture #77

2011-08-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

The Simpsons rather famously made the idea that Japan has square watermelons common knowledge. The thing is, I've lived in Japan for 22 years and I had never seen them in the flesh before. There may be some marketplace in the posher areas of Tokyo which routinely offers these melons, which are normal melons grown into this shape by growing them into a particular vessel. However, the idea that

Sudachi Pretz

2011-08-29T00:00:00.000-07:00

One thing which I have come to understand as a food reviewer is that depth of flavor is very important when you're sampling a bunch of crap and want to find some way of distinguishing the run-of-the-mill snack food dreck from the beyond-the-mill snack food dreck. The thing that tends to separate the big boys like Glico from the small fries like Riska is that they layer flavors into their

Tirol Raspberry Cheese Pie and Peach Pie Premium

2011-08-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up, I remember going to local supermarkets with my mother and seeing these boxes of pies with a clear plastic cover over the top. They'd have elaborate crusts with patterns on the top, perfectly crimped edges, and look nothing like the slapdash pies my mother put together. Hers had crumbling edges that were pressed down with a fork. I remember wanting to buy and try those

Random Picture #76

2011-08-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

Click this smaller version to load a larger one with better detail. Mister Donut is catering to traditional Japanese tastes in what they're calling a "flavor tour". Since the "tour" is made up of only three new products, it's not exactly a long one. The poster shows a donut version of takoyaki at the top. I haven't tried it, because octopus-flavored donuts aren't my idea of a good time, but

Pure Gummy Apple Ginger Ale

2011-08-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

This flavor of gummy is part of Pure's "wild pure" line. The thing that makes them "wild", apparently, is the kooky notion of including two different flavors rather than one. Apparently the people at Kanro (which makes the Pure gummy line) live a very sheltered existence. I spied this out of the corner of my eye just as I was checking out at a Lawson 100. I didn't get a good look at the

Kameda Seika Pizza Sembei

2011-08-18T16:00:00.000-07:00

There was a period of time in my life when I was absolutely bonkers for pizza. I call that the time "when I was young and lived in the United States". Since coming to Japan, several factors have conspired to undermine my devotion to that fattening delight. First, there was the year or so when both my husband and I were working full-time and every Friday night we'd come home and be so exhausted

Random Picture #75

2011-08-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

The Japanese KitKat scene has been a wasteland littered with tumbleweeds of uninspired options. The latest entry is just another cactus popping up out of the ground amongst a gaggle of nondescript cacti. These are "puff" big bars which take the standard milk chocolate big bar and stir some rice puffs into the coating. That's it. Offering this unimaginative creation on top of a cookies

Crunky Ball Nude (Gianduja)

2011-08-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

Despite the highly provocative naming of this particular line of confections, I have been resisting the allure of the Crunky balls. This is mainly because, while I love the malty crisped rice nature of the basic Crunky, I have been disappointed in at least half of the variations that have been on offer. Those that I did like tended to get by based on format alone. That is, a chocolate covered

Finding a new footing

2011-08-13T00:57:00.000-07:00

When I started this blog, I was working about 10 hours a week in my home and there were days when I had many hours of free time. That situation has since changed. As some of my readers may recall, I mentioned that I had to take on more work as a result of earthquake-related earnings changes. Two days a week, I now work full-time outside of my apartment and three days a week I have a consolidated

Yamazaki-pan Hitokuchi mochi bread

2011-08-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry that there is no cutaway shot. I took one, but lost it in the huge number of photos I've taken lately. If I find it, I'll add it in later. When we first moved into our neighborhood, there was a Mos Burger fast food joint not 3 minutes from our apartment. Mos Burger, for those who don't know, is the best Japanese rip-off of Western chains like McDonald's. Not only did they pilfer the big

Mintia Summer Powerful Plum

2011-08-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

Beavis and Butthead is coming back to MTV, and this may seem like a strange association, but I sampled this Mintia in honor of their return. If you weren't around during this particular era, the dynamic dimwits used to hawk Mintia in Japan. I'm not really much of a mint fan, which is odd since I've become such a gum fan and the two tend to go hand in hand and I never tried Mintia before this.

Random Picture #74

2011-08-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

My husband and I sometimes enjoy just picking a station which has little fame associated with it and just wander around the area to see what pops up of interest. Sometimes, we find something delightful and, at others, we find that the lack of a reputation is well-deserved. One of the places we went to was Tachikawa, a relatively big place with relatively little to recommend itself to us

Sunkus/Circle K White Sour Cream Daifuku

2011-08-08T12:00:00.000-07:00

If you live in a linguistically odd environment long enough, you stop seeing strange things as strange. This is a fact that I was reminded of when I mentioned to my friend Shawn (noted wombat-stuffer and center of the known universe... at least as he knows it) that I was about to partake of some "white sour cream daifuku." He said, "is there any other kind of sour cream (other than white)?" He

Spicy Chicken Wings Pretz

2011-08-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

Once a year, usually around the summer in my experience, Glico issues regional flavors of Pretz. For East Japan, the flavors are these spicy chicken wing pretzels and gyoza (pot sticker). West Japan gets yuzu koshoo (boy, do I envy that!) and a peppered fish flavor (which I envy a good deal less). This King Solomon approach, split the country in half and divide the Pretz between them, is

Glico Bisco Banana and Strawberry

2011-08-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

Bisco is one of those things I've seen for decades but never expected to sample. This is because the front of the package depicts a baby and I assume these are biscuits for teething children. My view on this matter did not change, but was rather changed for me when I bought a small package of Collon for review. I didn't heed the signs very well and when I got to the check-out counter, I was

Cherie Dolce Oishii Soy Latte

2011-08-03T00:00:00.001-07:00

I know my readers sit around believing I live the glamorous and fast-paced life of a small-time snack food reviewer. While you may believe that I'm showered with freebies from companies who are grateful to have their products displayed on my puny blog and that I'm sitting around in an evening dress and heels delicately ingesting delicious tidbits, the reality is quite different.* I am

Random Picture #73

2011-08-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

Click to see a larger picture with more detail. There's a game center near one of our local stations which seems to be stocking increasingly high numbers of food prizes. Instead of cuddly little furry numbers, it seems that their gamers would prefer salty or sweet treats and figures of girls with their panties exposed or famous anime character-related items. We ran across one prize that was

Monteur Custard and Whip Waffle

2011-08-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

There was a Belgian waffle craze in Japan sometime in the late 80's or early 90's when I first arrived. I don't know if that set off placing waffle-based snacks as permanent fixtures in markets and convenience stores or if they were there greatly prior to that time. However, if you ever hanker for a cold, pre-cooked waffle, nearly any store has your back in Tokyo. These types of things are

Fujiya Big Milky Balls (QR)

2011-08-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

My New Year's fukubukuro continues to be a snack review albatross around my neck. Yes, it's past the middle of the year and I'm still working my way through those surprise bags of processed food. As time goes by, the less thrilling stuff gets just that much older, and though the name "big balls" sounds impressive, these are really just large gumball-size wads of white taffy candy. The big

Glico Ta Pasta Pepperoncino

2011-08-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Ta Pasta is one of those things that has been on my mind for quite some time. This is because the concept sounds interesting, but it's also because it has such a shiny silver package. Those of us with short attention spans are lured to such trivial details. Rather more seriously, the flavors of the Ta Pasta line have always intrigued me, but not quite enough to get me to buy it until I

Nestcafe Home Cafe Latte and Chocolate Latte Syrups

2011-07-29T00:00:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in a previous random picture post that marketers are gearing up to make it easier than ever to endure the heat in Japan due to higher air conditioner settings and reduced use to keep power consumption down while the Fukushima situation continues on. One of the things that is showing up all over the place from a variety of manufacturers are packages of liquid-creamer-style tubs of

Pepsi Caribbean Gold

2011-07-28T00:00:00.001-07:00

I'd read that this was going to be released on July 26 and dutifully went out to the local Family Mart to procure one. It is part of the snack reviewer's oath that one must sample high profile novelty releases ASAP. It's the same credo that says weight gain "for the cause" is to be seen as a noble expansion... taking one, two, or even three for the team is just part of the job. Incidentally,

Random Picture #72

2011-07-27T03:00:00.000-07:00

Click for a bigger picture. Note that many of these are yogurt and fruit combos, though all of them have so much sugar in them that they can hardly be considered healthy for such inclusions. Displays of gelatin (what is called "jelly") in Japan are being beefed up because of the hotter than hell summer and weaker than a new-born kitten air conditioning. At first, I thought this might be all

Plecia Great Mont Blanc

2011-07-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

All things mont blanc draw me to them. The Pied Piper would have nothing to offer me, but the Hamlin baker could lead me to my doom with a lovely mont blanc. Something which resembles a small mont blanc pizza with only 318 calories, scarcely more than a real pizza of the same size (14 cm. in diameter). Of course, I'm not sure if this is a "proper" mont blanc, because it doesn't have mountains

Meiji Mango Chocolate

2011-07-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

This is a chocolate party that I am more than fashionably late in attending. In fact, I'd say I'm showing up just about as the hostess is clearing away the dishes and shooing out the final round of guests. The fact that I waited so long to pick up a bar of this chocolate is a reflection of how many other things were more interesting than this rather than a lack of desire to try it. The fact of

Lotte Chocolate Pie Bites

2011-07-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

In Japan, you can score a bucket of pies... teeny, tiny pies, but a bucket nonetheless! Sometimes I think about the future of this blog post-leaving Japan. There is no doubt that I will be able to procure Japanese snacks one way or another after I leave, but I wonder if the same interest value will be there for me. Part of the delight of sampling and talking about such trivial things is that

Sanko Seika Almond Chips Sembei

2011-07-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

As no one may have noted, I haven't been reviewing as much sembei (rice crackers) as I once did. It turns out that once you run the gamut of most of the common flavors, they tend to come out in reruns or reissues. That doesn't mean I still don't like them or eat them, but just that I don't find review-worthy fodder as often as I once did. Since these reviews get fewer comments than nearly any

Random Picture #71

2011-07-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

Click to see a bigger picture. One of the interesting things about being given lots of food gifts in Japan is that the choices made often reflect the tastes and preferences of the person giving you the gift and allow you to sample things you'd never buy for yourself. A few weeks ago, one of my very kind students gave me a big bag of bread products that she bought at a local bakery called

Pepsi Energy Drink (QR)

2011-07-18T22:00:00.001-07:00

I missed whatever hype, if any, surrounded the release of this latest Pepsi release. It jumped out and surprised my husband and I at 7-11 during an evening walk. I wasn't going to try it, but my husband said he'd try it along with me so we handed out our 138 yen ($1.75) for a mere 250 ml. This contains royal jelly extract, caffeine, and arginine as the powering up components. This is not sold

Strawberry Hazelnut Petit KitKat

2011-07-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

I swear not to buy another strawberry KitKat, but then here I am. I bought the bitter strawberry one, and now this one. In my defense, I was at work and wanted something small and sweet for a pick-me-up and the petit KitKats fit the bill. Also, this has hazelnuts, and I am a card carrying fan of Nutella and all things which mix filberts with any sort of chocolate. Yeah, that sounds like a

QBB 6P Hokkaido Cheese

2011-07-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

I'm a sucker for any box that has cow illustrations on it. I'm not sure why that is, but it remains the truth and I'm not afraid to admit it! One experience I often have with my students is that I will ask them a question about Japan or Japanese culture and they will answer with, "I never thought about it". When you grow up in a culture, you rarely pause to question why you or other people do

Cratz Anchovy and Garlic

2011-07-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

As regular readers may recall, I'm not a big fan of fish. In fact, faced with a heaping stack of dried fish snacks, I nearly lost my nerve awhile back. It's not necessarily that I hate the taste of fish, but just that I don't love it enough to pursue it for snacking. Snacking, unlike meals, is often (if not always) a form of eating for entertainment purposes rather than for sustenance. I'm

Random Picture #70

2011-07-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken during cherry blossom viewing season at Ueno Park. It illustrates something about eating in public in Tokyo and that's that the birds are bold and opportunistic when they encounter someone snacking in public. Pigeons are the usual moochers, but there are often signs telling people not to feed them. Fortunately for this big, black crow, no such prohibition is made on them

Lotte Coolish Vanilla

2011-07-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

If the astronauts could eat something akin to "real" ice cream, they'd be eating "Coolish". The concept is ice milk that you squeeze up and eat out of a tube, because we like our ice cream eating experiences to resemble things like dispensing toothpaste or hemorrhoid cream. The package is a plastic-coated foil packet which houses some ice milk. You can't eat it immediately out of the freezer,

Schedule Wackiness

2011-07-10T16:47:00.000-07:00

Blogger changed the way it does scheduling and it seems to have bumped my posting ahead a day. Even though I chose Monday-Friday as my schedule, it looks like it is following a Sunday-Thursday one. My guess is that this is because it is following the time-line for Japan now (whereas it used to follow Pacific Standard Time). That means this week is shifted about 14 hours ahead by American