AB1012: Japanese Snack Treats SurveyOn what was surely one of the most joy-filled days of 2010, I received a box of snack treats ordered from JBOX (http://www.jbox.com/home). By ground shipping, it took at least a month for this box of goodness to arrive from across the ocean. In order to capture the magic I photographed the treats and recorded my perceptions at the time of consumption – scroll to the right for many more snack treats. |  JST15: “Traditional Barley Sugar Candy”.Macro image. |  JST11: Glico Cheeza 52% Cheddar Cheese Flavor.These crackers are a stunner, and highly recommended. I expected them to taste like a crappy knock-off of Cheez-It, like most cheese-flavored crackers do; but these actually taste like cheese. The strength of the cheese flavor is remarkable. They taste not simply like cheese, but like toasted cheese that has achieved that salty-savory-caramelization you get when you fry cheese, that chicharron de queso umami-heavy flavor. And the crackers’ appearance is awesome. I rate it a 9.5. |  JST11: Glico Cheeza 52% Cheddar Cheese Flavor.Macro image. |  JST12: Kyoto Candy – Kyou Nishiki.These are, according to lore, a highly traditional Japanese hard candy in a style native to Kyoto. They are better than you would guess, because they have a stronger and sweeter flavor than you would find in the much larger American or European version of this sort of hard candy. I rate it a 6.0. |  JST12: Kyoto Candy – Kyou Nishiki.Macro image. |  JST13: Morinaga Black Sesame Caramel – KURO.These black slabs are extremely firm and dense, not yielding immediately to the chew, unlike the other Morinaga caramels, similar in resilience to a Big Hunk or Abba Zabba. The flavor comes on slow but is quite strong and good. The web alleges that this is an old school treat dating back to the Meiji period – it definitely has an old school earthiness to it. I like them, but many would not, I think. It reminds me of black licorice even though it doesn’t taste like licorice. Increasingly addictive. I rate it an 8.0. |  JST13: Morinaga Black Sesame Caramel – KURO.Macro image. |  JST14: Morinaga Ottotto – Barbecue Flavor.The imagery on the box suggests that these sea creature snacks have gone Hollywood. These are puffed wheat flour (maybe some rice flour too, as they are a bit crispy) snacks, similar to goldfish crackers but much lighter, more delicate and crispy. The detailed modeling of the shapes is what makes them irresistible. Nominally barbecue flavored, they taste of soy sauce, some kind of seafood flavoring, a little like that Chinese “barbecue sauce” substance, and a little like mothballs. Formally I would give these a top score, but purely in terms of flavor, I rate these a 4.0. |  JST14: Morinaga Ottotto – Barbecue Flavor.Macro image. |  JST15: “Traditional Barley Sugar Candy”.This is another variety of traditional Japanese hard candy. They are a lot like the old-timey “root beer barrels” candy familiar to elderly Americans, but without the root beer flavor. Aside from being pretty sweet, the malted barley flavor of these candies is subtle, inconspicuous at first, but it grows on you until you can appreciate it. I rate these a 6.0. |  JST10: FritoLay Thai Cuisine Cheetos – Gapao.Macro image. |  JST16: Meiji Dice Caramel.These slabs imprinted with a grid on their long side resemble the Morinaga Black Sesame Caramel, but they do not offer the same firmness of texture. In taste, they are quite similar to the Morinaga milk caramels, but I would give the edge to the caramel masters at Morinaga. These, however, come in little boxes that are fully functioning dice. I rate this product an 8.0. |  JST16: Meiji Dice Caramel.Macro image. |  JST17: Glico Asobi Glico Caramel.This is one of those products where what you are really buying is a miniature toy, but it’s packaged with candy so that they can put it in the candy aisle, and maybe to make it easier to get your mom to buy you toys when they are disguised as mere candy. The packaging, on the other hand, suggests that these are the preferred candy of athletes. So what you get in that big box is four caramel hearts and one little wooden dude consisting of four awesome-colored wood donuts and a t-shaped plunger to hold them together. These seem small enough that you probably wouldn’t give them to your American baby, however. I assume Japanese babies are naturally sophisticated enough not to choke on toys. The milk caramel was unusually chewy in a taffy-like way, with some fruit-flavor overtones. Not bad. I rate the candy portion of this item a 6.5. |  JST17: Glico Asobi Glico Caramel.Macro image. |  JST18: Sasebo Burger Drops.I guess these taste about as much like a burger as a hard candy would be capable of doing, or maybe not. They are probably flavored with the same New Jersey Turnpike chemicals that flavor actual fast-food burgers, and the taste is sweet, with a combination of mild ketchup-tomato and charbroil smoke flavor. My scale doesn’t really apply to things that actually taste bad, so I guess I’d rate these a 0.0 – of novelty value only. |  JST18: Sasebo Burger Drops.Macro image. |  JST19: Nestle KitKat Banana.Whoah! Upon opening the package, a powerful whiff of banana scent is unleashed. Beyond that, this product is pretty much what you would expect – like white chocolate in its texture and with the creaminess of white chocolate, but overwhelmed with a potent blast of chemical banana flavor. It must be acknowledged that of all the synthetic fruit flavors, banana is one of the most potent, with perhaps the most interesting verisimilitude. Too bad banana is a fairly mediocre flavor to begin with. This candy is far better than eating a real banana, though, so I rate this product a 5.0. |  JST19: Nestle KitKat Banana.Macro image. |  JST06: Morinaga’s Matcha Caramel.Green tea-flavored caramel is another strange combination, but far more pleasing than the red bean. Like mint, green tea is an herbal flavor that seems to go very well in sugary treats. I rate it a 6. |  JST01: Don Tacos.Macro image. |  JST02: Fritolay Doritos, Tokyo Pork Steak Flavor.Shaped like a Frito, but these are Dorito-like in crunch and texture. Did they poor a batch of Dorito batter into the Frito-making device? The flavor is predictably sweet and spicy with much savory umami and onion powder thrown in for good measure. I rate it 105% as delicious as the classic nacho cheese-flavored Doritos snack chip. Carmen wrinkled her nose at the smell wafting from the bag and said it smelled like Chinese grocery store. After eating the bag, my entire hand smells so savory I can hardly resist eating it. |  JST02: Fritolay Doritos, Tokyo Pork Steak Flavor.Macro image. |  JST03: Morinaga Potelong – Grilled Ginger Pork Flavor.A cheerful pig waves and gestures toward a plate of grilled pork. These potato-based fried snack crackers resemble the Andy Capp’s Cheddar Fries snack treat in texture, but devoid of cheesiness. The flavors of ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil predominate. The snack is oily, but still jagged and mouth-desiccating. Eating Potelong is like eating crushed glass and my mouth tastes like blood now. I rate it a 5.5 – the vicious crunchy texture competes with the weird flavor for outlandishness, but the snack is still intriguing. |  JST03: Morinaga Potelong – Grilled Ginger Pork Flavor.Macro image. |  JST04: Morinaga’s Milk Caramel.Gosh, these ordinary-looking brown cubes of milk caramel are freaking delicious. Is there anything better than caramel? The timeless yellow box packaging speaks of an old-world elegance and class. I rate it a 9. |  JST04: Morinaga’s Milk Caramel.Macro image. |  JST05: Morinaga’s Azuki Caramel.The red bean-flavored version of Morinaga’s classic cube caramels is a weird pinkish color with a weird taste – like vegetables in your dessert. Surely an acquired taste, however, I predict I will not acquire the taste. I rate it a 2. |  JST05: Morinaga’s Azuki Caramel.Macro image. |  JST01: Don Tacos.The logo of Don Tacos is a smiling globe with a pencil mustache and a sombrero. The chips bear a strong resemblance to Doritos, but the coating of flavordust is particularly sugary-sweet and strongly tomato-flavored. I rate it 80% as delicious as the classic nacho cheese-flavored Doritos snack chip. |  JST06: Morinaga’s Matcha Caramel.Macro image. |  JST07: Fritolay Doritos Gourmet, Spicy Sausage Flavor.Definitely a Dorito, but these are a bit weird – both spicy and bitter, and still plenty of that compelling Dorito umami. A cold beer would make a good pairing with Spicy Sausage Flavored Doritos. Not as compelling as nacho cheese Doritos, however, but vaguely meaty. I rate it a 6. |  JST07: Fritolay Doritos Gourmet, Spicy Sausage Flavor.Macro image. |  JST08: Meiji Poifull.Collagen-filled fruity jelly beans with a resilient gummyworm-like interior – these are pretty much 100% exactly what I want right now. I rate it a 9. |  JST08: Meiji Poifull.Macro image. |  JST09: Fritolay Cheetos Chiba Shoyu (soy sauce) Flavor.Looks like a Cheeto, but somehow it tastes and feels oilier and fattier. It is a luxurious lipid-bomb Cheeto. And the powdered soy-sauce flavor is dark, musty, oddly compelling. It is high on the umami scale. But at the same time, a mild sweetness, but far short of drawing comparisons with teriyaki. Pretty delicious. I rate it a 7.5. |  JST09: Fritolay Cheetos Chiba Shoyu (soy sauce) Flavor.Macro image. |  JST10: FritoLay Thai Cuisine Cheetos – Gapao.Thai kickboxer-flavored cheetos are a fine thing – strong flavors of basil, mint, garlic, peppers, and I-don’t-know-what-else intensely recall the experience of eating spicy Thai food, but completely unwholesome. I have become a believer in the spicy non-cheesy cheeto-based snack, bigtime. I rate it an 8.5. |