Pokemon Sweets Pikachu Crackle Juice: I purchased this beverage from the Pikachu Sweets shop in Sunshine City, a mall in Tokyo featuring many Pokemon shops. The juice was pretty pricy, at $6, and tasted strongly of sweet pineapple. It had an ice cube in a shape of a round Pikachu head and contained pop-rocks so that it literally crackles. I like the creativity of the drink and think it's fitting for the game; it was too sweet for me to ever want to have again, though, and was priced for tourism. 3.0/5.0
drinks pokemon juice pineapple pokemonsweets pikachu crackle 3.0
Happy Ice Brown Sugar Boba Ice Cream Bar: This is the famed, verging notorious, Taiwanese brown sugar boba iced tea bar, containing tapioca balls, that have been sold out everywhere. The person who was able to purchase it did not reveal its source but did say that there were multiple boxes available at this unnamed shop in the city of Los Angeles. The bar is a true work of science, with the tapioca balls retaining its iconic stretchy and chewy consistency despite being embedded in a frozen ice cream bar that tastes exactly like br... (read more) 4.5/5.0
recommended icecream taiwanese boba milktea happyice brown sugar ice cream bar 4.5
The Penny Ice Creamery Lemon Poppy Seed Ice Cream with Blackberry Compote: Waited in line for about 20 minutes to enter this small ice cream shop in downtown Santa Cruz. Entire clientele was student-aged. They make all their ice cream in house, and they had some interesting flavors like celery and raisin sorbet (which I sampled but found did not taste as much of celery as I would like). I got a mini scoop of their lemon poppy seed ice cream with fresh made blackberry compote, which cost a little more than $4. You can tell from the texture of the ice cream that ... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended pennyicecreamery santacruz icecream dessert thepennyicecreamery lemon poppy seed ice cream blackberry compote 3.5
KitKat Yuzu kitkat: There's a small KitKat shop in Ginza. I'm not sure if it's the main one because I've seen more KitKats in a room in most malls here, but they did have them individually packaged in nice collector cases. They were pretty pricey, a $3 for a single KitKat (not even the type you break in two, which I thought was a defining characteristic given the jingle but apparently not in Japan). I purchased the most interesting looking one: Yuzu. It's actually very good: sour and tart, like a lemon flavore... (read more) 4.0/5.0
recommended japanese citrus chocolate kitkat yuzu 4.0
North Colors Nori Potato Chips: Bought these potato chips from a local grocery store. The brand logo is a symbol of Hokkaido, the northernmost island in Japan and what I've learned is often representative of quality, particularly when it comes to food. According to the website, these chips are made with rice bran oil, salt, and sea water from Hokkaido, along with flecks of Nori. Unfortunately, I found the ridged chips to be subpar; they're very saturated in oil, which gives them a weak crispy texture and makes them feel... (read more) 2.0/5.0
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Fanta Socata Soda: This is a limited edition vending-machine exclusive in Japan from Fanta, the first in a series they're calling 'Delicious Flavours of the World,' where they introduce flavors only available in other regions of the world to the Japanese market. I found out about it because I was intrigued by the name SOCATA?! on the label, with the universal white and blue color scheme of mystery flavors (e.g. White Air Heads, Mystery Oreo, etc.) The label also features a castle in the background, hinting a... (read more) 3.5/5.0
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