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.
Though they’ve mixed it up the past couple of months with different colored boxes, they’re back to the traditional red.
DEAL: Save $3 on your first regular or premium crate with coupon code HELLO.
The box is super-cute, with little candies flying all over the place.
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 is always a Manga-zine that lists the contents of the box, as well as some fun food and cultural info about Japan.
The chart of contents lists the snacks for all three box sizes. The tiers are cumulative, so our Premium Box has everything on the page!
The Manga-zine mentions some key November events in Japan, like festivals and celebrations. It also notes two highly-prized Fall flavors, roasted sweet potato and dried persimmon. Yum!
Everything in the box!
Sumomo Ball: A small, peach-flavored jelly that comes in a single-serving tub, and it’s about the size of a halved bouncy ball.
It’s shaped like a little baseball, making it a very appropriate treat for Fall.
Kagikko Chocolate Key: Your very own colorful candy key, complete with some bright Fall colors. The little candies are chocolates with a crisp candy shell, very much like M&Ms.
Party Gummy: One of a set of ballpark snack themed candies. We got the hamburger — they also make a hot dog, soda, and ice cream shaped version. Can you tell baseball is big in Japan?
It’s really just three multi-colored gummy slabs, but stacked together they look just like a burger with cheese and lettuce.
Marshmallow Pudding: Were it not for the picture and translation, I would have thought this was intended to look like an egg.
The exterior is white marshmallow, but the inside is a rich, yellow, flan-style custard. It certainly looks like an egg!
Rilakkuma Gum: The package of this gum is absolutely adorable. It features Rilakkuma, Korilakkuma, and a feathered friend.
The gum itself is soda flavored.
Okusuriya San Capsule Ramune: These little hard candies from “Mr. Pharmacy” have a pretty straightforward lemonadish ramunade flavor, but the packaging is the real draw — it is designed to look like retro medicine packaging.
Sono Manma Cola Gum: This cola flavored bubblegum has that citrus-intense cola flavor you expect in a Japanese cola candy.
The shape, however, is a lot like an egg, with the tangy filling even being yellow. There is also a gimmick — one of the three pieces is actually very sour! Great for sharing with friends.
Fue Ramune Pineapple Flavor: These are a fun twist on ramune, combining it with a sweet pineapple flavor.
They look like fat LifeSavers, but the hole in the middle turns these candies into perfect whistles!
The small box also had a little toy spinning top inside.
Pokemon Grape Sparkling: Grape flavored soda with a picture of Pikachu. I was prepared for a bizarre take on this classic soda flavor, but the fragrance, taste, and color were all exactly like pretty much every grape soda I’ve ever had.
DIY Magic Foam Jelly: This kit lets you make your own two-layed fizzy beverage.
The back has simple directions that even I could understand.
You mix the first packet with two lid fulls of water and shake it up. Then, you gentle mix the second pack on top of that with another two cap fulls of water.
Taberundesu-Hi (BONUS ITEM): These little hard candies come in a cool dispenser that looks an awful lot like a Fuji disposable camera.
They are pretty sweet and come in a variety of fruit flavors.
Sweet Poteko Honey Sweet Potato Flavor: These crispy little rings celebrate the season with a Japanese Fall favorite flavor, roasted sweet potato.
The combo of honeyed sweet potato and salty savory cracker makes this snack superbly satisfying. These came in a large bag, but they didn’t last very long in our house!
Mike Popcorn Brown Sugar Caramel: Crispy popped corn with a heavy dusting of sweet caramel.
The brown sugar gives the caramel dust a really deep flavor, and using a powder in place of a coating leaves the popcorn much lighter in texture.
Rapoppo Farm Sweet Potato Candy: Yet another wonderful way to get more delicious sweet potato flavor! The box came with a big bag of individually wrapped candies.
The outer shell is a sweet potato flavored hard shell.
A special treat lay within — there is a sweet, soft center inside!
Harvest Sweet Potato Biscuits: Ultra thin little sugar cookies with a yummy sweet potato flavor.
The bag contains several sleeves of cookies — enough to share, if you have to.
These crisp little disks would be wonderful even if not sweet potato flavored, but the extra bit of tastiness really pushes them over the top.
We love getting the Premium Box from Japan Crate — it just has so many items that it blows us away every time. We’re really impressed with the selections, too. They’ve been perfectly suited to our palate, including flavors that are both authentic and yummy, without bombarding us with any wild stuff our only modestly sophisticated palate couldn’t tolerate.
What item do you want to try from this month’s Japan Crate? Let me know in the comments!
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