Nissin Annoimo Waguri sweet potato cookies: I grew up eating coconut sable biscuits from Asian grocery stores, the type that has scalloped edges and a glazed coating with flakes of sugar. I like them so much that i made the biscuit my avatar for Tasty Snacking. It turns out that in Japan, there are extended flavors of this basic coconut cookie. For autumn, they have a sweet potato flavor with decorative packaging featuring maple leaves and chestnuts. I was pretty amazed by how concentrated they were able to get the sweet potato flav... (read more) 3.5/5.0
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Orangina Blood Orange Soda: A "born in France, bottled in Japan" flavor of Orangina featuring blood orange, one of my favorite citrus variants. The color is a tad more red than grapefruit juice; it's pulp-less, unlike normal Orangina. Doesn't have the same tart flavor you'd get from fresh blood orange fruit but does have a distinct berry-like flavor that distinguishes it from regular orange juice. On the sweet side but still refreshing. 3.5/5.0
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Orangina Muscat Sparkling Soda: A special edition grape flavored Orangina introduced for the Japanese market, this soda still contains citrus (orange, grapefruit, and lemon) with the addition of "Muscat of Alexandria," a type of white wine grape. Like normal Orangina, it only has a small percentage of actual juice (12%) but tastes less artificial than Sunkist or other orange soda alternatives. The main flavor is still orange soda (as opposed to tasting like grape soda), but it does have a different enough aftertaste that... (read more) 3.5/5.0
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Mount Takao Mitarashi Dango: A couple weekends ago, I went hiking at Mount Takao, a scenic destination about an hour from Tokyo with views of Mount Fuji from the 600m tip. It's especially famous for its colorful autumn leaves, which I was very thankful to get to experience firsthand. Probably because I've been especially inactive since the start of the pandemic, it was more difficult than I expected to scale the mountain with its steep inclines and the added challenge of wearing a mask while exercising. The 22k steps... (read more) 4.0/5.0
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Hio Ice Cream Green Tea Milk Ice Cream: Even before I arrived in Japan, I had bookmarked this modern ice cream shop in Jiyugaoka to try for Tasty Snacking. Unfortunately, it's a bit far away from central Tokyo and I never got a chance to make it out there before COVID hit. I didn't realize, though, that you can actually find their ice cream at certain grocery stores. I went for the classic green tea flavor, which has specks of dark green mixed in. While I was hoping for a strong bitter matcha flavor, it actually disappointingl... (read more) 3.0/5.0
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Morinaga Choco Monaka Jumbo: First introduced in 1972, this iconic ice cream sandwich comes in a huge bar (especially as far as Japanese desserts go); its grid-like pattern is meant to make it easier to break off and share pieces with others. It features a thin crispy wafer-like exterior, vanilla ice cream, and a shard of chocolate at its center. The wafer is what makes it feel particularly Japanese, as many snacks like cookies or Taiyaki feature the same texture (it's mostly flavorless, acting largely as a protective... (read more) 3.0/5.0
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