When it comes to Japan, snack foods are a particularly popular cultural export. It is not uncommon for young people living outside the country to know about things like pocky and ramune (see below), and taste-test videos of Japanese snacks on YouTube can easily amass tens of thousands of views.
Keio Store, a supermarket chain operated by Keio Group (the same company which operates Keio Railways and Keio Department Store), are a familiar sight across Japan.
Japan’s convenience stores offer a wide variety of delicious sweets and desserts that are simply so irresistible, you can’t help but end up buying some to indulge in.
If you have sampled the traditional sweets of Japan, you might have been surprised how different the tastes – and ingredients that include sweet potatoes, sweet beans and rice - are from Western...
When it’s summer Japan, all the jimejime (humidity) and hītoairando genshō (“heat island phenomenon”) may have you suffering natsubate (“summer fatigue”). This is where shokibarai comes in.
As a kid, every New Year I would look forward to a sweet jelly called kouhaku kanten. Kanten is a jelly made from boiled tengusa algae and seaweed. It is known for being low-calorie and rich in fiber, so it is often used as a healthy alternative to regular sweets.
Cherry blossom season is blooming across. But, don’t fret; you can start preparing for sakura’s arrival with a few treats available near you (or online to get shipped to you)!
Here’s a list of some of the season’s offerings and where you can get them.
Sasebo Sweets Festival 2019 makes it sugary return June 29 and 30. During this two-day annual festival, you can enjoy a slew of local sweets from 17 different Sasebo-area sweetshops
The city of Matsue in Shimane Prefecture is famous for its tea culture. One of three major tea culture centers in Japan, rumour has it that consumption of matcha green tea in Matsue is five times that of the national average.
