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What is Japan Crate? Japan Crate is a monthly subscription service that sends a box full of Japanese sweets and drinks.
I first heard about Japan Crate when a friend of mine introduced me to this Super Mario chocolate pop that apparently was primarily sold in Japan and was featured in a previous Japan Crate box. I have a sweet tooth and have been a fan of Japanese culture so I investigated further. There are three subscription options, Mini, Original and Premium.
- Mini is 12 per month and you receive 4 to 6 items
- Original is 25 per month with 8 to 10 items plus a DIY Kit Guaranteed.
- Premium is $30 per month with 12-14 items, a drink, a DIY Kit, and a bonus item. If you are trying to choose between the Original and Premium I think the $5 extra dollars is worth it.
Included in my subscription box:
The box comes with a booklet with informative information on each item provided. The booklet is very useful as it describes what every candy is and an insight to the toy they sent as a bonus. The booklet also provides some informative information on Japan. The booklet also provides a section where you can learn new words in Japanese. It was a nice little read while I tried each candy out.
Well it’s chocolate so I immediately loved it. It reminded me of Pocky, which I love. Great, light, on-the-go snack. Also, If you are allergic to almonds and soy then I wouldn’t recommend this candy as it is a part of the ingredients.
Sweet Corn Pretz– It is a buttered salted sweet corn stick.
Surprisingly, this one is one of my favorites out of the box because normally I don’t care for corn or corn flavored things and apparently corn flavored items are very popular in Japan. I can see why now. Tasted exactly how it sounds but even better.
Glug Glug Want Chocolate- Love the name! GGWC is a Taiyaki waffle-like batter filled with a light chocolate mousse and it was delicious!
FullGurt Candy- Fruity hard candy that is a blueberry yogurt or a mango yogurt flavor.
I was hoping it was a hard candy with a soft yogurt flavor inside as it looks like in the wrapper but it’s not. The candy breaks apart almost immediately, I didn’t care for the texture much. The taste wasn’t bad though.
I should also mention for those will allergies, It does have soy and flavor(egg) inside the ingredients.
Nata de coco Grape Gummy– The manual explains that the Nata de coco is a sweet jelly made from coconut water. It’s combined with grape gummies. This was my least favorite candy out of the whole box. It did taste like a little like grapes but at the same time had this weird fake taste to them. I didn’t care for these very much.
Mokomoko Mokoretto “In A Toilet” – Assemble and decorate you own toilet!
This has to be the most entertaining item in the entire box. It’s literally a toilet that you assemble then eat out of. There are different themed toilets you can received, I received the United States toilet. I had fun putting it together and then mixing the water and powder in the toilet. It then creates this foam type candy which then requires you to drink it with a straw. You are literally drinking out of a toilet. I could see lots of kids eating this candy and decorating the toilet with the stickers. I actually googled this candy and found a few interesting photos of other folks using their toilet as a pot for their plant. I may have to do this myself and update.
Konpeito– Sugar candy that is a traditional Japanese candy from the 16th century.
This is pretty much straight sugar, fun to eat though.
Fun Fact: The Star Bits from Super Mario Galaxy and the Gratitude Crystals in Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword are based on these. Thanks Wikipedia.
Kawarinbo– 3 in 1 lollipop
This lollipop has two sides, each with their own flavor. Then once you finish the lollipop, you can unwrap the stick to get a piece of gum.
My Thoughts – This is candy that transforms! ^-^
It also tastes pretty good!
This was another one of my favorite items out of this box. I love potato chips and was a little hesitant because I saw the primary ingredient is seaweed flakes, (right on the front of the bag), which is new to me. I am a teacher and I have seen some of my students eat seaweed during snack time, it never looked appealing but like I said before, this is about trying new things, so I went for it. I’m glad I did. These chips were delicious.
My thoughts- This is an odd but cute little keychain. I think I’ll go hand it to my husband now. 😛
Lemon Squash- Lemon Squash means Lemonade in Japan.
It reminded me of a Kool-Aid Burst, except watered down. Even comes in the plastic bottles with the breakable twist-off tab. I wasn’t much of a fan though.
Lychee Ramune– This is a carbonated fruit flavored drink.
Fruity and refreshing! Almost like a grape soda.
Overall, I think the concept of the box is brilliant. A subscription box that provides sweets and goods to those who may not have items such as Japanese candy accessible to them. It also provides a bit of that culture which I also enjoyed. Also, I like that it included the ingredients and nutritional value was also labeled in English over each candy. Although, all the items there were included, were really for me, I still appreciated the variety of choices. I couldn’t eat it all but luckily my family helped out. I think if you are interested to try something new, and have a sweet tooth like me, you should try this crate out.
I should also mention that every month one lucky Japan Crate subscriber can win a Sugoi Crate. This past month’s Sugoi Crate featured A White PS4, a Pikachu Backpack, a Hatsune Miku figure and more valued over $500.
Need another reason to give Japan Crate a shot? Below is a preview of Novembers Sugoi Crate you can win:
If you are interested in trying out Japan Crate for yourself, you can purchase a box on their website.
By Vanessa Benavides
Twitter: @vanbenavides