Kabaya Saku Saku Panda Biscuit Snack

こんばんは！

Sorry for the delay between postings folks...many days of 12 hour shifts with lots of physical activity makes you WANT TO DIE and subsequently not blog. I did eat some Japanese snacks however, and that slightly brightened the week.

Today we have possibly the longest named snack yet, Kabaya's Saku Saku Panda biscuit snack. The packaging is adorable, of course I bought it. I believe they were $2.79 at Mitsuwa.

The back is more of the same...it shows how there is chocolate on one side and biscuit on the other. The Japanese are really fond of the biscuit/chocolate combo I find. There must be a million different shapes and flavors of relatively the same theme.

I like the different Panda faces...I really wanted the one with the scared frowning face but I mostly got the one making the O mouth. There were 8 biscuits in total and the serving size is the whole box at 160 kcals. Really not a good deal if you think about it but I made 2 servings of it so it seemed less of a rip off.

Another great example of the Japanese attention to detail. How may American cereals/cookies/crackers come with comics printed on the bag inside the box? None I can recall. This basically recounts the epic tail of Mr. Detective Saku Panda and his junior detective finding the clue of footprints and discovering how delicious the foot prints are...okay...

The biscuits are in the same vein of other like snacks. The chocolate is pretty good quality and the biscuits crunchy and not overly sweet (which I like since a sweet biscuit with chocolate can be too much). Would I buy them again? Maybe...there are SO many other snacks that are similar I would likely pick up something else with less white chocolate.

Good night!

Pokemon Message Gum

こんばんは！

I'll admit it- I like Pokemon. It all started with Pokemon Red in middle school and it's had a soft spot in my heart ever since. Pokemon combined with a prize inside candy is instant win in my world and so I grabbed this at Mitsuwa for under $2.

It's a thin little cardboard pouch and I'll assume the major draw are the cards since there is one pack of gum inside. The front has Pikachu (of course), Zekrom and Reshiram. The little blurb under the cards presses the point that the images are examples and not necessarily what you'll get (duh).

The back is much the same...with the same blurb. It makes me wonder if they had some crazy fans or parents calling and complaining since they didn't get EXACTLY what was on their package of gum.

（The back is much better!)

The cards I got were Dewott and Panpour. This sucks- I hate both of them. Dewott looks retarded and those stupid elemental monkeys are awful. Maybe I'll call and complain to the gum company that I didn't get a Sandile or Pikachu card since that's what was on the package.

The gum itself is actually divided in half so I suppose it's 2 servings. When I tasted it i thought it was just a generic fruity flavor but the back of the package enlightened me to the fact that it's apple. It definatey wasn't bad! I don't love fake apple flavors too often but I didn't mind this at all. Like most gums for kids though, the flavor was gone after about 2 minutes of chewing.

In any case, I actually really enjoyed this product. I love getting little promotional things, and I definately make choices based on that (I am totally a sucker )= ). This was not too expensive and the quality of the packaging and promo items were high. I suppose the only issue I have is that I can't figure out what to do with the cards! Since they are card stock and size but have lines I don't know if they are stationary or just a collectible card!

Choco-corn Snack

こんばんは！

I have to apologize for this one...or I don't. I don't really know. This snack is actually Korean although it is sold in Japan...and there's plenty of Japanese on the package to prove it! This was purchased at Mitsuwa for $2 and change.

I have some rhyme and reason for why I pick the snacks I do...I like certain flavors, companies, it's odd, etc. But I am certainly at fault for buying things based on the package. That little corn dude was practically shouting at me. If he thinks eating a product made of himself is delicious, then I have no choice but to think so too.

The name of the product isn't very creative...Choco-corn. The english label on the back says it's "Chococorn union". I don't get the "Union" part...either I missed it on the package or perhaps it's the company. The corn guy is actually saying something in Korean ,translated into katakana. I think it's "Mashinyo" but I always get katakana "so" and "n" messed up so it may be "Mashisoyo". The blurb on the back explains that that phrase means "oishii" in Japanese or delicious. Japanese lesson of the day- katakana is for any foreign word...my name, city names, etc. Since Korean is a foreign language their phrases get the same treatment as seeing something say "Merry Christmas" in Japanese.

Now, I'm not going to sugar coat this- the product looks like a pile of dog poo. I was actually expecting like a big Cocoa Puff. My first bite I was kind of "meh" about it. It tasted like a cheese puff but with chocolate instead of cheese food. The second piece hooked me though- it's chocolately, crunchy and melts in your mouth after a second. I could definitely eat a ton of these. Honestly, they are not bad for you either. 1/2 the bag is 180 cals and there are a TON in there. After maybe 10 I could consider myself finished for the sitting and it was maybe 1/4 of the bag.

If snacks were like this in America, it'd be a ton easier to forgo the Chips Ahoy and ice cream.

Xylish Fresh Lemon Gum

こんにちは！

You know those impulse buys near the check out lines at stores? This was the result. You know how impulse buys aren't always thought out and well...good? Yea, this was one of those buys.

I was foolishly drawn my the Meiji brand...the promise of "fresh lemon" and the $1.99 pricetag...actually those aren't foolish BUT it did not live up to its expectations for sure.

(Shiny things are really hard to photograph!)

As with Meiji's other gum products, this was packaged exceedingly well. The little rectangular carton has a "drawer" which keeps the product from getting too squished in bags, etc. Each of the dozen pieces of gum are wrapped in little foil pockets. The little crosses on the outside I suppose are to show that it's healthy since it's sugar free.

The outside of the gun is coated with a candy shell and the gum itself is very soft. The taste is like a nasty lemon cough drop. It is VERY reminiscent of medication rather than ..an enjoyable piece of gum.

Now I like lemon a lot, I have been known to eat just lemons and other sour food substances but I could only hold out about 5 seconds before spitting it out.

Sorry Meiji but this is the first time your product has failed me!

Morinaga Pakkuncho Disney Crackers

こんにちは！

I am a huge fan of all things Disney and so anything that's Disney AND a Japanese snack is an immediate buy in my book. I picked up these Morinaga chocolate filled crackers at Mitsuwa a couple weeks ago.

This filled cracker thing is kinda popular...I see them all over the Japanese snack asiles. I've definately had things like this before and they are always pretty good if nothing super special. They are crunchy and slightly sweet on the outside with a soft milk chocolate filling. They are a nice alternative to your everyday cookie and a lot more portable. They are also not bad on the calorie side. 1/2 the package is 100kcals, so split up the bag into 2 and you've got a nice little snack (a lot better than those 100cal snack packs with like...cookie crisp things you find in America. Those just TASTE like unfulfilling diet "treats".)

These particular crackers have Disney characters stamped on the top. The interior of the box shows you all the possible characters you may see. There are some REALLY obscure characters which I find hilarious. Where do you find snack food with the prince from Sleeping Beauty or the Little Mermaid showcased on it? No where in the US that I've seen anyway! I unfortunately did not get anyone super special...just an inordinate amount of Poohs.

With all the other options out there I likely won't purchase a box of these for a little while. They aren't bad by any means but a little generic.