Japan Crate is a monthly subscription box that helps you “experience the excitement of Japan every month through fun candy & snacks.” They have three subscription levels that start at $12 a month and offer 1, 3, 6, or 12-month plans that auto-renew at the end of the term. Japan Crate aims to send candy that is fun and exclusively available in Japan. Now, this box actually SHIPS from Japan!
DEAL: Save $3 on your first regular or premium crate with coupon code HELLO.
There are 3 different subscription levels available: The Mini includes 5 items, the Original includes those items PLUS another 5 items, and the Premium includes those 10 items PLUS another 5 items. This month I am reviewing the Premium box!
There was a Manga-zine that lists the contents of the box and other info. The cover included references to some of the snacks! This month’s theme is “Childhood Favorites.”
Japan Crate lists the snacks for all three box sizes plus gives a little info on what’s going on in Japan that month.
Everything in the box! Japan Crate always manages to put together a colorful box. My 13-year-old daughter especially loves this box and helped me test the snacks.
Befco Anpanman Soft Cracker There are 16 wrapped packs, each containing two crackers inside. When they say “soft” I think they mean “easy to chew” as these are crispy rice crackers with a sweet/salty soy sauce flavor. I liked it and the bag is huge! This is perfect to place in a lunchbox.
There were four different designs on the packages.
Coris Soft Soft Soft Candy Soda are very soft pillows of candy that are sour on the outside and taste like ramune (lemon lime soda) on the inside. Sort of like gum that disappears after you chew it. Ice Stick Lollipop is from Indonesia and looks like a popsicle of varying colors. Karina said the red and orange parts had a fruity flavor and that the white part was creamy.
Triangular Cracker Vegetable are mini crackers that are a little sweet but also savory. I’m sure I’ve had something similar from Keebler or another brand. Mochi Taro Salt are little bites of rice cracker that are salty but not sweet. Sort of reminds me of a crouton!
Note that there is a peanut in the mix, which I wasn’t expecting and which was the only one in the whole bag.
Kabaya Rilakkuma were delicious Pocky sticks without the usual coating. It is sort of like a thin pretzel but sweet like a cookie, with a light honey butter flavor. Sweet and simple.
Corn Potage are corn soup flavored puffy snacks that are more sweet than savory. Masuya Pique 8 Rice Crackers are salty puffed rice crackers. Not puffed rice as in a rice cake, the “flour” is rice-based and similar to senbei, but without a glaze. Kind of like the AnpanMan crackers shown above, but with a mild flavor.
Yaokin Roll Candy Strawberry This was a strawberry flavored fruit roll-up, just like the kind at the grocery store. A kid classic.
Shin-Chan Puripuri Pudding #5 is the DIY kit this month. The instructions were included in the Japan Crate Manga-zine.
Karina added milk to the mix and microwaved it, then poured it into the molds. After that it went into the fridge for a couple of hours and then was topped with the contents of a pink packet.
There were little pop out pictures that you could use to decorate the pudding, which is similar to flan. Obviously Shin-Chan is a very naughty little boy, showing us a full moon. The sauce is very sweet and berry flavored.
Genji Pie These are heart shaped palmiers – flaky pastry with a crunchy sugary glaze and one of my favorites from the bakery, but in a small size!
Choco Anpan I was surprised to find these little bites soft and chewy, like a roll. They had a chocolate flavored soft center and are supposed to look like a popular bean-paste snack from Japan.
Pokka Sapporo Pudding Shake A word of warning: the link takes you to Amazon where you must purchase a case of these drinks for around $300! Imagine that you have some flan, and you chopped it up and mixed it with watery skim milk and then poured it in a glass to drink. There you have it folks, watered down flan chunks.
Nyusankin Yogurt Strawberry Hard Candy is a strawberry flavored hard candy made with probiotics and has a light flavor and isn’t too tangy.
I told my daughter that I didn’t want to eat something that looked like styrofoam pellets. It turns out that this is a TOY! Sushi Toy is a bonus item of a very stinky plastic piece of sushi on top of a moldable piece of what I assume is Floam. The sushi plastic smell was so strong I immediately threw it away but my daughter played with the “rice” and then I played with the “rice” and then I laid it down and a few hours later it was too dried out to work. I would suggest sticking it in a plastic container or Ziploc bag to see if that keeps it pliable.
I always smile when I find Japan Crate in my mailbox! The snacks are cute and fun and although I sometimes find something odd, I mostly discover tasty treats. The drink was weird to me and the DIY was silly but the Anpanman crackers were my favorite item this month!
What item do you want to try from this month’s Japan Crate? Let me know in the comments!
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