Koikeya Strong Grilled Seafood Potato Chips: Koikeya has a line of STRONG potato chips, I guess indicating that they're bolder than regular potato chips. The ridged style is thinner than Ruffles, and more generally, I find that Japanese potato chips don't have the same substantial bite that American potato chips tends to have. This flavor reminded me a little bit of shrimp chips but it definitely had a slightly richer flavor, the type you get from imitation crab sticks. It was pretty decent but not one I find myself drawn to purchasi... (read more) 3.0/5.0
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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
Koikeya Strong Sour Cream and Onion Potato Chips: These chips taste like the Japanese version of Ruffles Sour Cream and Onion Chips except that the flavor is stronger on tangy sour cream taste, which I enjoy even more. I get the sense that Koikeya is sort of like the Frito Lay's of Japan, since their brands are everywhere and especially prominent in convenience stores. Overall, a familiar but comforting junk food flavor. 3.5/5.0
potatochips recommended Maruetsu japanese junkfood koikeya strong sour cream onion potato chips 3.5
Yamazaki Biscuits Co Nori Chip Star Potato Chips: These chips are like Japanese Pringles, with more Asian flavors than you would normally find for Pringles. They come in a similarly-shaped cardboard tube but the stack of chips inside are further wrapped in sealed packaging. I bought the nori-shio flavor, which had specks of seaweed. They definitely had a distinct nori flavor but otherwise taste just like Pringles, which is to say they are thickly-cut potato crisps whose flavor dries largely from the oil they're fried in. If you like Pri... (read more) 2.5/5.0
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Marusan Sweet Potato Soy Milk: Similar to Taiwan, there are a lot of flavored milk products on the grocery shelves. I decided to give a few a try. This one is a sweet potato-flavored soy milk that seems to only come in juice boxes, probably meant for kids. It does taste like sweet potato, but it's extremely sweet and as a result hard to finish even for a small juicebox. Imagine the pumpkin-flavored desserts you get in the US around Thanksgiving, but sweet-potato flavored. 2.5/5.0
juice japanese Daiei marusan sweet potato soy milk 2.5
Calbee Pizza Potato Chips: These are junk food potato chips I see commonly at convenience stores in Japan. (Calbee is kind of like the Japanese version of Frito-Lay.) Though the packaging shows pepperoni pizza, it doesn't have a meaty flavor to it and instead tastes oddly sweet, like too-sweet tomato sauce. The predominant flavor is sweet potato, but there's also a little bit of zingy cheddar flavor, but not much else that is reminiscent of pizza (for example, no oregano seasoning as far as I could tell). The chip... (read more) 2.5/5.0
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