Japan Snack Reviews #4

Reaching the end of the Japanese snacks and it's a lot of small individual candy items...

1.

Name: Ame Chan Candy (Hello Kitty)

Review:

Ame Chan candy comes with various different characters on the wrapper - "Hello Kitty, Pokemon, Anpanman, maneki neko..." Obviously, I got Hello Kitty. This one is a lemon hard candy and it's a strong lemon taste. Lemon candy like this divides me slightly. On the one hand, I think it tastes great. On the other hand, it is a bit like eating Lemon Pledge (housecleaner). But overall, a thumbs up from me.

2.

Translation: Couple O' Lemons. Lemon soda candy.

Review:

These are basically like Smarties. They come in different flavors but this one is lemon and, let me tell you, if it didn't say "lemon" on the package, I would never have guessed. It has some sort of fruity taste but it's only lemon if I really strain my brain.

They also dissolve in a weird way, I imagine that's where the "soda" part comes in. They're very slightly effervescent. Not bad, ok.

3.

Name: Beh (Tongue) Gum

Review:

It's blue gum. You know the flavor "blue," don't you? It could broadly be blue raspberry but the way I would describe it would be blue lemonade.

Japanese gum seems to be fundamentally different in some way than American. Firstly, the texture is much softer, it feels like it's going to dissolve or break apart but doesn't. And then also the flavor doesn't last as long.

The reason this is called "tongue" gum is because the gimmick is that it turns your tongue blue. And it worked. I didn't photograph the result but it wasn't pretty. Not bad, overall, but nothing too great either.

4.

Name: Maken Mini

Review:

Well I'm not one for reading Japanese labels but the one thing I can guess is that it's the first candy with an expiration and I missed it. I'm taking my chances and living on the edge. If you don't hear from me again, it was the Maken Mini that did it.

These are gummi candies that come in the form of hands that show "rock, paper or scissors." I got scissors - it looks like this:

The red color made me expect strawberry or cherry but it seemed to me to be cola flavored. In fact, it tastes like Haribo Cola Bottles. It's small, I don't know if or how you play rock, paper, scissors with it, but it's candy and it's pretty good.

5.

Translation: Apple Foam

Review:

This is a spherical hard candy that doesn't taste like apple but I think I can be generous and say maybe "sour apple." It tastes exactly like one of the flavors of Fiji Fruits - I don't know if anyone remembers them, they were possibly an obscure candy from the 80s.

Well, looking it up, one of the flavors in Fiji Fruits was "Island Apple" so I guess I have to give them the benefit of the doubt and concede. Fine, it's a valid apple flavor. I don't have to like it though.

And that's all for now. Next Up: Korean Snacks #5. Look for that in 2022!