Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – August 2015 Premium Box

Japan Crate delivers a pile of Japanese candies and snacks, all in their original, super-kawaii domestic packaging.  I mini subscription is $12 with 4-6 items per month, a regular is $25 with 8-10 items and 1 guaranteed DIY kit, and the premium crate is $30 with 12-14 items. The premium crate includes a drink, DIY kit, and will have a surprise item ranging from a bag of Japanese chips to a Premium DIY kit or gashapon figure/keychain.

Our massive Premium box.  Immediately upon opening the box, you know that you are being gastronomically whisked away to a magical land where everyone, and everything, takes on a the guise of a manga or anime characters.

The various items in our premium box were carefully layered in there.  It was surprising to see how much fit in the box.

The little booklet reads right to left, in authentic Japanese fashion.  It has a brief manga feature, some additional product info, fan pics, giveaways and contest results, and other items of interest.

This helpful chart provides info on each item in the box.  I think its cool that they have an accretive, tiered item roster — each box upgrade includes everything in the lower tiers.  Here, you can peruse contents of other tiers to see if you would be just as happy with a lower tier, or if you want to spring on a higher tier.

Each month, one lucky subscriber receives the Sugoi Crate, packed with super-premium swag.

All the goodies in the box.  We got the Premium box, so it included the DIY kit, drink, and surprise.

Japanese BBQ Scones:  I have no idea why these are called scones.  They are similar to a Cheeto in texture, but slightly more crispy instead of violently crunchy.  The flavoring is a sweet hibachi barbecue seasoning with a nice tang to it.

Soy Sauce Pretz:  A bit like a flattened pretzel stick, but denser without being harder — a hard, savory tan cookie biscuit rather than a blindingly white porous and jagged rod.  The soy flavoring is slightly sweet and buttery.

Chocoroom DIY:  The little tubes of icing are self-hardening, and a mold is provided to allow a variety of mushroom shapes.  The mushroom stems look to be made of pucca. We haven’t had a chance to make this yet – I think we’re going to save it for our son’s forest theme party next week. It will be a fun activity for the big kids.

The back of the box has instructions, and the booklet is kind enough to translate (but you could probably figure it out on your own).

Creamy Melon Soda:  Our premium box came with this as the drink.  It has a honeydewish flavor, but it is also laden with milk powder, making a crazy fizzy-melon-cream soda.

Puzzles & Dragons Wafer:  The wafer is a light, crispy waffled wafer cookie.  I took the filling for a mocha upon first tasting, but it is actually oolong tea infused, giving the chocolate an accent that is between matcha and mocha.  The puzzle is actually a riddle, and it is in Japanese.

Chocolate Pucca:  The only item in the box that is fairly well known in the U.S., these little cookies have a hollow center with nice, creamy chocolate filling.

The “puzzle” from Puzzle & Dragons.  Probably more fun if you are literate in Japanese.

Crackling Cotton:  This is cotton candy in an intense grape flavor, paired with PopRock style popping candy crystals.  The overall effect is supposed to be like grape soda.  I love the anthropomorphized grapes and sodas on the packaging of these three items.

Soda Mixing Jelly Beans:  A little chart on the bag has mixing suggestions similar to Jelly Belly.  The beans themselves have a juiciness to them that exceeds normal expectations for a jelly bean.

Shuwa Shuwa Soda Candy:  These come in cola, grape, and orange.  The center of each has some white fizzy powder that creates a soda effect.  Similar to a Zotz, but much less sour.

Crayon Shin-Chan Candy (watch my unboxing to see how this extremely humorous packaging works!):  Ramune-flavored pellets with a texture similar to Smarties (ramune is a Japanese take on lemonade).

Wow, Such Banana?!:  This ridiculously named treat is a marshmallow with a strip of chocolate sauce down the middle and a banana-flavored coating.

Pokemon Puzzle Gum:  The pack does with one little square of chewing gum that tastes like Fruit Stripe gum.  The card features two Pokemon with their stats (in Japanese) and a 16-piece sticker puzzle.

The 16 colorful rectangles peel off and stick to the black and white template to complete your mini mural.

Mario Kart Gum:  Ten pieces of individually wrapped gum come in different character packages, connected in one long strip (separated here to allow a single photo; full strip is pictured in the “all the goodies” shot, above).  It’s the same gum as the Pokemon puzzle (same company) — I think each character has a different flavor, but I couldn’t really distinguish one from another.

The back of the packs.  The writing is all the same, so I think they are all a mystery flavor.

Japan Crate is very cool.  All the candy and snacks were in Japanese domestic packaging (a few had the additional, English export sticker), so each item has the cool Manga/Anime-style artwork that is ubiquitous in Japanese branding.  The box was loaded with items and carefully packed.  Though the theme of the subscription is not super unique (Japan is well-represented in the international candy sampler box community), the curation is phenomenal, since I have only seen one of the items (or a version of it) in other candy subscriptions we’ve reviewed.  The palatability was excellent — there were no seafood, kelp, or ultra salty/sour oddball selections. Everything was both authentic Japanese and attractive to a western palate.  The value is great too:  if you had used the coupon code on this crate, each item would have been under $2!  Highly recommended for any fan of Japanese candy or culture.

Visit Japan Crate to subscribe or find out more! Save $5 on your first Premium crate with coupon code hello.