Big in Japan: A Review of the April 2015 Japan Crate

Earlier this week I received my very first Japan Crate.  Yay!!!  I ordered it back in March and had been awaiting its arrival with eager anticipation for weeks.  What is Japan Crate?  It’s a monthly subscription service that provides subscribers with a generous assortment of Japanese candy delivered right to their doors.   Or, as the official website puts it, “Crazy Japanese Candy, Hand Selected, Starting from $12/Month.”  There are three different subscription levels: Mini ($12/month), Original ($25/month), and Premium ($30/month).  Of course, crazy otaku that I am, I had to get the premium subscription.

Now, I’ve had Japanese snacks before.  I’ve eaten various kinds of Pocky and have hoarded Ramune soda in my fridge for months (okay, years) at a time.  But that’s pretty much been my limit.  Oh, except for the Panda cookies I had to give up after watching Episode 25 of Death Note.  (They were just too depressing to eat after that.  I couldn’t eat them without thinking of L.)  So, I went into this little experiment knowing I would enjoy it, but having little idea of what to expect.  And now that I have sampled every last item in my box (As evidenced by the above picture.  Everything is open and nearly gone.), I can say I was not disappointed.

Each Japan Crate box comes with a full-color, laminated card featuring a comic on one side and an itemization of the included snacks on the other.   Each month, subscribers are sent a new assortment of mystery items.  I have scanned the list for the April 2015 box and broken it down for illustrative purposes below. Please read the item description before the review.

 
Kami Bikkuriman Wafer

I find it really bizarre that in Japan kids get their trading cards with wafer cookies instead of bubble gum, but whatever.  The wafer was really light and tasty and now I have a collectible card from some unknown Japanese card game to add to my collection.

 
Hi-Chew Minis

These were actually my least favorite snack in the box, not because they weren’t good, but because they weren’t anything special.  The outer shell and chewy center remind me of Skittles, although the Japanese flavors are a bit more intense.  A good candy – I will definitely be eating the whole box – but nothing out of the ordinary.

Fujiya Fruit Drops

My favorite thing about these candies is their sugary coating.  It takes a few seconds for the sugar to dissolve on your tongue before you reach the heart of the drop.  The added texture that the sugar provides is what elevates these drops over the average hard candy.

 
Kantorimaamu Crispy

I have never been a big fan of granola, but I would totally eat one of these cookies again.  The consistency is rather foreign – it’s much more airy than your standard American chocolate chip cookie – but it was delicious.

Meiji White Chocolate

Although the description says that Meiji chocolate is famous in Japan, I had never heard of or tasted it before.  (Whenever I hear the word Meiji my mind immediately jumps to Rurouni Kenshin, not chocolate.)  I am not a fan of white chocolate in general – I can take it or leave it – but I actually enjoyed this bar.  It was smooth and creamy. 

On Shokora Houjun

This was my favorite item in the entire box.  The tangy berry flavor was the perfect complement to the chocolate.  The berry flakes were actually rather soft and had a texture similar to the crumbles on a Good Humor Strawberry Shortcake Bar. 

Animal Pancake DIY

I kind of felt like a five-year-old when I was trying to make my pancake, mostly because I didn’t really know what the heck I was doing.  Even using the pictures on the package as I guide, I still felt rather lost.  When I finally did figure out what to do, I cut too big a hole in my mini-pastry bag and ended up having to draw the strawberry outline with a toothpick, which was frustrating.  Then, when it came time to bake the pancake, I had to improvise because I live in the one and only household in the United States of America that does not have a microwave oven.  (This is by choice, but still, it sometimes makes things difficult.)  After 10+ minutes in the conventional oven, my pancake was done.  It wasn’t exactly pretty, but it was tasty.  

 
Koume Chan Plum 

These gummy candies come in a beautiful little bag and are shaped like hearts.  What’s not to love?  The flavor was milder than I expected, but I still enjoyed these very much.  I wish I had more.

 
Power Squash

Or as I have been going around saying for the past few days, “POWER SQUASH!!!”  To me, this tasted like bubble gum soda.  Which it awesome!  And it has vitamins!

NeruNeru Ichigo DIY

Like the Fujiya Fruit Drops, this is at the bottom of my list of favorites, but for a different reason.  The kit only included two wafers, so after I went through all the trouble of figuring out which powder went where and how to put everything together, it kind of seemed like a waste.  The two wafers were gone long before the frosting, leaving a glob of too-sweet strawberry frosting.  When eaten without the frosting, the little candies provided tasted like the plastic bubble compound that I used to play with when I was a kid.  (You know, the one that came in tubes and then you had to blow them into bubbles at the end of a straw.)  Yeah, definitely not my favorite snack.

 
Glico Kapuriko

When I first saw the package, I thought it was going to be similar to the marshmallow ice cream cones that we have here.  (I haven’t seen them in stores in years, but you can buy them here.)  But the consistency of the “ice cream” in these cones is so different.  It’s more of a whip than a marshmallow, and it’s absolutely heavenly.  

 
Konpeito

This month the Premium boxes had a bonus item as a thank you gift from Japan Crate for being patient about their recent shipping delays.  I absolutely love these!  I could eat the whole bag in a day if I let myself, but I’m trying to savor them.  So far, I’ve been really good.  Konpeitos tastes just like rock candy, but they’re shaped almost like three-dimensional stars or flowers, giving them a delightful texture.  

Even though I found a couple of the items less than impressive, I still enjoyed every last thing in my April Japan Crate.  In fact, I enjoyed the experience so much that the next day I ended up placing an order on AsianFoodGrocer.com for $40 worth of new candy items to try.  I honestly couldn't see myself waiting another whole month for the next crate, so I decided to make one myself.  I still have my Japan Crate subscription though and look forward to what May will bring.