Sweet Box Japanese black beef potato chips: A common potato-based junk food I see here in Japan but not in the states is french-fry-shaped chips, thickly cut like the British type you get with fish and chips but crunchy: extruded fried potato sticks. The most popular is Calbee Jagabee, though I actually have not yet tried it (you can get it easily in the states), but the bag I purchase is substantial and hearty in comparison, at least in terms of the diameter of each piece. The chips have a strong garlic flavor that tastes slightly sm... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended japanese sweetbox black beef potato chips 3.5
Meiji Ujikintoki Ice Bars: I've been very slowly working through this box of popsicles for about a month now. Having previously tried a Lotte version of packaged kakigori ice bars, I decided to try this matcha version not realizing it was from a different brand (Meiji). These ice cream bars are really quite bad; the green tea ice is very hard and crunchy and lacks flavor, whole red bean throughout the ice have a very dry texture, the viscous condensed milk that sits on top of it is far too sweet, and the outer coati... (read more) 1.5/5.0
popsicles japanese dessert avoid maretsu icecream popsicle meiji ujikintoki ice bars 1.5
Meiji Tsujiri Matcha Cone: It's been a long while since I had packaged ice cream like this in the states, with its familiar waffle cone base lined with chocolate that's a favorite at summer camps. The Japanese version if different in a few ways: first, the ice cream is level with the top of the cone, rather than overflowing in a round scoop topping the cone; second, the entire ice cream treat itself features a narrower cone, giving the snack an overall smaller footprint. I actually liked this ice cream a lot - the i... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended japanese Daiei icecream meiji tsujiri matcha cone 3.5
Sangaria White grape soda: This beverage comes in an aluminum bottle with a twist of top. It contains 20% real fruit juice and probably 80% sugar water, along with what appeared to be slightly chewy pieces of grape. Overall, it was extremely sweet and not something I could drink much of in a single sitting. Purchased at Family Mart. 2.5/5.0
familymart japanese drinks soda white grape 2.5 sangaria
Ito En Vivit's Chiba Pear Soda: Even with lockdown measures (which I guess as of several hours ago have been lifted in Tokyo), I tried to take a daily walk to a vending machine to try something new. However, I stopped doing that about a month ago as I was running out of desirable options and was worried I might get diabetes. I got this from a discount vending machine having previously had the peach version of this line of sodas. The pear version tastes like a concentrated, slightly more balanced ramune, but still very swee... (read more) 3.0/5.0
drinks vendingmachine japanese itoen vivit's chiba pear soda 3.0
Fujiya Country Ma'am Chocolate Mint Cookies: These are standard cookies you can buy at any grocery store (The Fujiya brand is kind of like the Japanese Nabisco as far as I can tell). The pack has miniature, individually wrapped cookies that are alien-like in their bluish-green color, more blue than a normal mint chocolate chip ice cream. They remind me of a cookie version of Andes mints, kind of like the mint-flavored cleaning gel you get at the dentist. 2.0/5.0
maretsu japanese cookies fujiya country ma'am chocolate mint 2.0