Tominga Melon Cream Soda: Purchased from Galco's in Los Angeles, this Japanese fruit soda is like a carbonated melon-flavored Calpico: intensely sweet and like a liquified starburst with its artificial fruit flavor and atomic green color. It has a slightly milky finish, with a white froth that collects at the top of the bottle. I've never had a soda like it before, and I probably don't want to have a soda like it again. 3.0/5.0
drinks japanese tominga melon cream soda 3.0
Toppo Caramel and Butter Sticks: Toppo is sort of like Lotte's response to Pocky, with a very similar stick-like form factor but with the flavoring on the inside. The exterior is a sort of pretzel / cracker hybrid, and this particular one has a strong buttery flavor and a salted caramel-flavored filling inside. Sweet and savory, like chicken and waffles, this snack could have been good in theory but is somehow both too sweet and too savory at the same time; in other words, not well balanced. This standard size you can fi... (read more) 2.0/5.0
familymart japanese toppo caramel butter sticks 2.0
T-Pops Tarako Salted cod roe popcorn: Purchased from Tokyo Fish Market, this small bag of popcorn from T-Pops contains dense miniature kernels with a seasoned but not easily identifiable flavoring. It doesn’t taste like seafood, which I expected because of the salted cod flavoring and it’s dressed with a noticeable amount of oil. Not particularly good popcorn, or unique flavor. 2.5/5.0
tokyofishmarket japanese tpops salted cod roe popcorn 2.5
Tsukishimaya Imagawayaki waffle dessert: In my neighborhood in Tokyo, there's a very small to-go stall selling a traditional Japanese dessert called Imagawayaki, which is a wheel-shaped waffle/pancake with red-bean filling. Here, you can purchase a custard version as well, each for just over a dollar, and they're made fresh right in front of you with a heavy-duty cast-iron mold. I really enjoyed the crispy coating and slightly chewy interior. The pancake itself had a nice wheat flavor, which was pleasantly surprising because I e... (read more) 4.0/5.0
recommended desserts azabujuban japanese tsukishimaya imagawayaki waffle dessert 4.0
Uchi Cafe Sakura Dacquoise ice cream sandwich: I am going to be discharged from the hospital tomorrow so I got an ice cream sandwich from the Lawson convenience store to celebrate. This is a Sakura ice cream sandwich that's meant to resemble a French pastry (Dacquoise); it consists of sakura-flavored ice cream with a thin layer of strawberry jam sandwiched between two flaky biscuits that have a crumbly costing almost like a glazed sugar cookie. I had the dessert about 10 minutes after getting it from the freezer, which seemed like the pe... (read more) 4.0/5.0
recommended icecream japanese lawson icecreamsandwich dessert ichicafe sakura dacquoise ice cream sandwich 4.0
Uchi Cafe Strawberry milk with tapioca and pulp: Japanese convenience stores had a wide variety of coffee beverages to chose from; one surprising offering is their packaged tea and milk drinks containing tapioca, often available in the same refrigerated section as the coffee. They come with an expandable bubble tea straw and contain boba-like spheres more akin to popping boba than chewy fresh boba. The snap of the popping boba, though, was more satisfying than I expected. Kind of like a cross between kefir, with a slightly tangy / sour ... (read more) 3.0/5.0
lawson drinks japanese uchicafe strawberry milk tapioca pulp 3.0