Japanese Snacks

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.

The parcel arrived in the Philippines three days after Hiromi dropped it off at their post office, but it took more than a month from arriving in my country to get to me! Hiromi was worried that some of it might have expired!

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!

★★★

Jari mameじゃり豆

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.

★