My friend, Hiromi, whom I had met through a language app in 2018, and met in person when I visited Gunma in 2019, and who visited me in Cebu is 2020, sent me a box of Japanese snacks.
What I did not expect was for the parcel to be so big—she had sent about 40
kinds of snacks! So many! What should I eat first? Easy. By expiration date!
There were three that were already past their expiration date (April), but
we (my family and I) still ate them.
Mochi Taro 餅太郎
This one is somewhat like rice crackers with a light taste and has bits
of peanuts.
★★★★
Cut Yotchan (White) カットよっちゃん (しろ)
This is a squid snack flavored with vinegar. It was very sour!
★★
Apparently, it is a popular dagashi (small and cheap Japanese
snacks ranging from 10 yen to 100 yen).
Which reminds me—another friend, Yumiko, brought me to visit a
dagashiya (shop selling dagashi) in Kawagoe in 2019.
Ama Ika Taro 甘いか太郎
This is sweet and salty squid in kimchi flavor.
★★★
Fried Potato フライドポテト
Lightly salty French fries-shaped snack.
★
駄菓子屋さんのカレー
This is a curry flavored snack. I like Japanese curry! I could not stop
eating this.
★★★★
Komusubi Arare 小結あられ
Arare are rice snacks/crackers that go well with drinks (or so
the Japanese say).
This snack is slightly salty.
Hiromi says this one is a hineri-age or twisted fried snack.
With or without drinks, it disappeared in our tummies in a flash.
★★★★★
Happy Turn ハッピーターン
Happy Turn are crunchy rice crackers coated with sweet buttery powder.
This variety has 150% more powder! My first taste of this snack was
maybe three years ago, when my Japanese coworker gave us a pack of Happy
Turn original flavor (100% powder). It was so good that I hunted it down
it when I visited Japan in autumn of 2019. So happy that Hiromi sent me
a pack of Happy Turn. I miss this rice cracker!
★★★★★
Ika Mirin いかみりん
Ika Mirin are crunchy squid crackers seasoned with mirin so it is
slightly sweet.
Really addicting! I could not stop eating this!
★★★★★
Cabbage Taro キャベツ太郎
An okonomiyaki flavored puffed corn snack.
The flavor, which was okonimayaki, wasn't anything special or memorable.
★
Sakura Daikon さくら大根
This is radish (daikon) fermented in plum, resulting in its pink color
(I am guessing that's where the "sakura" comes in). This is quite sour
(as one would expect from a pickles) but crunchy. Pretty good if you
like pickled veggies.
★★★
Sumomo (Plum) すもも
These pickled plums looked so cute. The taste reminded me of Chinese
pickles
we used to eat when we were young.
★★★
Edo Dagashi Fugashi 江戸駄菓子ふ菓子
The texture reminded me of
Moby
(a Filipino snack). The taste was very very very sweet!
★
Mugen Ebi 無限エビ
Shrimp flavored rice crackers. It tastes light and not too salty.
★★★★
Cheese Arare チーズあられ
Did not taste like cheese to me. Thus, the one star.
★
Kameda no Kaki no Tane Noko Ume Zarame 亀田の柿の種 濃厚梅ざらめ
Plum flavored rice crackers with peanuts. This is sweet and salty.
This is the first time I have tried the plum variety.
(I often buy the
original flavor since it is available in my local supermarket.)
★★★
Koikeya Pride Potato (Setouchi Lemon) 湖池屋プライドポテト
(凛凛レモン)
Potato chips flavored with vinegar and lemon. It actually tasted like a
milder Lays Salt and Vinegar.
★★★
Sudako-san Taro 酢だこさん太郎
Made with fish paste and squid and flavored with vinegar. Quite sour.
Obviously.
★★★
Kabayaki-san Taro 蒲焼さん太郎
Made with fish and squid, and flavored like kabayaki (how they
grill eel). It has a slight spice. Really good!
★★★★★
Kappa Ebisen かっぱえびせん
This is like a lighter/less saltier version of our local junkfood,
Oishi Prawn Crackers.
★★★
Potato Fry (Fried Chicken Flavor) ポテトフライ フライドチキン味
Fried chicken flavored potato chips. Tasty.
★★★
Mocchan Dango もっちゃんだんご
Soft and chewy mochi (rice cake) in three colors and lightly coated in
sugar. Each color is a different flavor. I liked the pink and green
ones. But I could do without the sugar.
★★★
Cratz Pepper Bacon Flavor
Pepper bacon flavored pretzels with almonds. As you can see on its
packaging, it is meant to be paired with beer. But even without beer,
it's really good. And addicting! This is a Glico product. One can never
go wrong with Glico products. Yum!
★★★★★
Mini Lumonde (Caramel) ミニルマンド
Crepe cookies coated in caramel cream. I love the crunch and the taste,
but I prefer the cocoa cream flavor. (Whenever I visit Japan, I would be
sure to buy a pack of the cocoa cream flavor.)
★★★★
Pie no Mi パイの実
These are mini dark chocolate pies. Mini as in 1-inch diameter crunchy,
crumbly, flaky dark chocolate pies. I was expecting it to be bigger,
like 3 inches in diameter. But once I tried it, I could say it was a
good decision that they had it in a small, pop-in-your-mouth size,
because I think it would be messy to have it in big sizes as these are
crumbly, flaky pies. I prefer milk chocolate that dark chocolate, thus
the three stars.
★★★
Mala Peanuts 麻ピー
These are peanuts cooked in
mala oil. It has bits of peppercorn and chilli too. And as the design packaging
shows, it is indeed very spicy! One star because it is too spicy for me!
★
Konjac Jellyこんにゃくゼリー
These are jellies in stick form. The green one is green apple flavor,
and the pink one is strawberry.
This brought back memories of my elementary years when we'd eat Jelly
Ace.
This one is less messy to eat as it did not have too much juice compared
to Jelly Ace.
And it was more firm too.
★★★★
Amijaga (Sour Cream and Onion) あみじゃが (サワークリーム＆オニオン味)
Sour cream and onion flavored potato snack. These are thick and cruchy.
Very addicting! I consumed one bag in one sitting! Yikes!
★★★★★
Candy Box キャンディーボックス
These are small mochi candies. Each color is a different fruit flavor.
These are not too sweet.
★★★
Takenoko no Sato たけのこの里
Crumbly cookie cone covered in chocolate and shaped like bamboo shoots
(takenoko).
I like Japanese chocolates because they are not too sweet, but I am not
fan of the cookie part of this though. I prefer its mushroom
counterpart—Kinoko no yama きのこの山 (mountain mushroom).
★★★
Sapporo Potato BBQ サッポロポテト バーベQあじ
Chicken and beef barbecue flavored potato snack. Very junk-foody, if
there's such a word!
★★★
Made with pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and almonds, covered in batter
and baked. No oil!
Love this light, crunchy snack.
★★★★★
Fue Ramune Budou コリス フエラムネぶどう
Grape (budou) flavored whistle candy. When you blow through the
hole in the candy it makes a whistling sound. The candy easily crumbles
so you can probably just do the whistling once. Haha.
★★★
Watagashi わたがし
White cotton candy. Tastes like what cotton candy should taste like.
★★★
Mini Assortment ミニアソート
This set includes small boxes of candy. From left to right: yogurt
candy, fruit jellybeans (raspberry, green apple, lemon, and grape),
drink flavored jellybeans (cola, raspberry juice, lemon sukasshu squash,
cider), lemon candy, and chocolate. The candies are too sweet. I liked
the chocolate.
★★
Ninjin にんじん
Puffed rice snack in a carrot-shaped packaging. Looks really cute, but
tastes meh.
★