Lotte Strawberry Toppo: Toppo is another staple convenience store (kobini) snack in Japan. I read somewhere that they're like inverted Pocky sticks, but they're not so much inverted as redistributed: the snack consists of long straws with a neutral biscuit exterior filled with flavored hardened icing such as chocolate and strawberry. The strawberry flavor has a good balance of sweet and tart, reminding me of the Koala's March snacks but less sweet as there is a more balanced biscuit to icing ratio. Like many Jap... (read more) 3.0/5.0
japanese strawberry inegaya lotte toppo 3.0
Tokyo Milk Cheese Strawberry Cream Puff: Catching up on some reviews I never wrote back when shops were still open. This is a cream puff shop right outside of the Akihabara train station in Tokyo. They have regular cream, chocolate, and strawberry flavored cream puffs, as well as some seasonal flavors. I purchased the strawberry one, and it was quite good - the pastry was flaky and dusted in powdered sugar, and the strawberry cream inside was smooth and pleasantly sweet. Definitely decent for a chain shop and a quick snack. 3.5/5.0
akihabara japanese desserts creampuff tokyomilkcheese strawberry cream puff 3.5
Lotte とろ～りれん乳三昧 苺れん乳 Strawberry Kakigori Popsicle: These are unique popsicles that could only be manufactured through modern food science. They consist of a milky outer coating, made with Hokkaido milk, that encapsulates multiple layers. At the top is a viscous syrup, which has a slight tropical pineapple flavor to me though perhaps it's just a type of acidic milk – with my first popiscle, the liquid layer came as a surprise when it came pouring out. Underneath the syrup is a strawberry popsicle, somewhere between a freeze pop and fruit b... (read more) 3.0/5.0
japanese naniwaya dessert frozen lotte とろ～りれん乳三昧 苺れん乳 strawberry kakigori popsicle 3.0
New New York Club Rainbow Bagel with Strawberry Cream Cheese: There's a small bagel shop close to me designed to look like a NYC bagel shop, replete with white and blue tiles, metal shopping baskets filled with Skittles, and a neon Bagel sign in the window. I hadn't considered that bagels were available in Tokyo but I guess why not, so I decided to see how well it stacked up compared to real New York bagels. I got the most NYC and Japanese combination I could imagine: a rainbow bagel, in an intense purple, blue, and red swirled color palette, filled w... (read more) 2.0/5.0
bagels japanese azabujuban newnewyorkclub rainbow bagel strawberry cream cheese 2.0
Coca-Cola Strawberry Coke: I saw this bottle at Family Mart, and while I typically drink diet soda, I decided this was too interesting to pass on. Strawberry coke is a Japan-only product introduced only earlier this year in January. Since I enjoy cherry coke, I was interested in the soda giant’s take on a beloved fruit, particularly in Japan (I’ve seen several boxes of light pink strawberries going for an inordinate sum here). In color, the coke looks exactly the same as regular Coca-Cola, but the taste is undeniab... (read more) 4.0/5.0
recommended soda drinks japanese familymart cocacola strawberry coke 4.0
Oiwake Dango Strawberry mochi: Before I moved, I tried looking up in advance all the best specialty snack shops in Tokyo, but since arriving, I've found a better strategy is just wandering around and seeing where the lines are. This small confectionary shop in Shinjuku specializes in various types of dango, or mochi. I purchased a pale pink one that unexpectedly contained a whole strawberry as well as red bean. The mochi was very pillowy yet chewy, the strawberry a little tart and not particularly sweet. Overall, I enjoye... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended japanese shinjuku oiwakedango strawberry mochi 3.5