Doraemon Gummies

I feel like I've seen this character before on a snack. I'm not sure where, but I have. Or maybe I'm confusing him with the guy that's on every umaibo? Hard to tell with these kawaii mascots. These gummies come in the rare grape flavor that is so rarely seen among all the strawberry and cola gummies, but much appreciated. It's strange that this is a much more common flavor in the US, because I've heard good things about Japanese grapes.

These gummies, to my surprise, are more of the flat and sticky variety like the hand gummy I had last month. They were a struggle to get out of the package but here they are. They also are a little bit smaller than I was hoping for this package size - oh no! The smell is distinctly that of grape juice, very deep rich grape flavor, which bodes well.

My sniffer didn't like, as I get that wonderful grape taste, only a bit sweeter than I recognized before. The texture leaves a bit to be desired here, as the gummies are a little too flat to feel satisfying, I just plow through them and all their grape yumminess is gone too fast, which is not a great thing with the small amount of gummies here. Over all they need just a bit more bite to them. But the short moments of taste I do get from these are quite wonderful, again bringing back that rich grape juice smell, without the trouble of drinking it.

Rating: 7 - Aroof!

Thomas the Train Engine Chewy Candy

As mentioned before, Thomas is quite a strange inclusion in an anime box, but he indeed an animated character that's popular in Japan. I didn't actually know this but I guess it makes sense, with more animated characters and trains there. I actually liked these toys as a wee little pup, so it brings back a bit of nostalgia. Except I don't remember the stern looking engine on the right. This candy is also grape flavor which sounds wonderful to me right now on this hot day. Hopefully it'll be plenty refreshing.

Two surprises here, first of all this seems to be gum despite being labeled as chewy candy, and second, the packaging is all very unique! One seems to have a folding craft, one seems to be trivia. All very fun stuff. The gum has a nice refreshing grape flavor, so looking well here.

The grape gum flavor is just as nice as the smell. It's like biting into a refreshing red grape but it lasts so much longer. There does seem to be quiet a bit of sugar on the gum though which means the flavor might not last too long unfortunately, but for now it's very nice. And it's fading away and... gone? Well guess it's not gum after all, I was fooled. It may actually be better this way though since I was expecting it to last a long time. It still lasted a good amount of time for being chewy candy, and has quite a pleasant taste. How this correlates into Thomas I'm not sure, but between the packaging and the candy I'm digging it. I just want more than 5 of them!

Rating: 8 - Rowf!

Meigum Colorful Seeds Soft Candy

So many flavors in this one little package, how exciting! True to it's name, Colorful Seeds seems to have... a lot of color. Three colors to be exact. It's comprised of orange, ramune, and grape candy. It even encourages you to mix the flavors together, for flavors such as orange soda, grape soda, and... apple? How does that work from combining orange and grape? Meigum is a genius if they can get that one to work.

As expected, purple, orange, and white candies lie within. The ramune candies have both a different shape and texture from the others as it's in tablet form and grittier. Sniffing the bag... is a wild experience. So many fruity flavors colliding with each other. Maybe apple is lurking within there somewhere?

Starting with the orange one, it has a texture to it that I absolutely LOVE. Reminds me of Sprees, the way it puts up a little resistance to my canines as they make their way through and unleash the layers of orange flavor. The flavor is what you'd expect from an orange flavored candy, a little tangy and a little sweet, not the most natural tasting ever but quite pleasant. The grape one I like even more, the flavor really pops out and has this really nice rich taste to it, like I was biting through a slightly chewier grape. Lastly the ramune one. The texture is vastly different, it's that chalky texture where ramune bursts in my mouth with its light airy flavor. It's really nice and refreshing, and no liquid required!

As for the combinations... grape soda combines the refreshment of the ramune and pop of the grape and it is quite amazing! Orange soda actually seems very accurate to its name, as the tangy orange flavor gets a little lightness and coolness to it with the addition to the ramune. And the moment of truth? Somehow the combination of grape and orange actually does remind me of apple. The two seem to neuter each other out in a way that creates a light crisp apple flavor. I'm actually shocked by this. What kind of mad scientist came up with this??? This is so impressive! The three together... it's pretty chaotic and really hard to tell what's going on. You'd think it makes apple soda but then you get the grape and orange soda flavors in there too...

I wasn't expecting to like this that much, but after discovering the apple combination this is truly something special. Meigum managed to make this candy both delicious and fun!

Rating: 10 - AWOOOOO)O!!!

Kit Kats - Kyoho Grape, Hokkaido Melon, Wa-Ichigo Strawberry

This time we have three more Kit Kats with some different fruity flavors. While matcha and strawberry are familiar territory, I'm really interested to see how grape and melon translate into Kit Kat's wafter structure. The last one is the ever-familiar strawberry but with Wa-Ichigo tacked onto it. I wonder if that will be any different?

As usual I look up the meaning behind any unknown words and see that kyoho grapes are a type of grape grown in Japan. Regardless  I don't expect this to be too different from the normal grape flavor, though this one has a lighter color and different smell than I expected. It smells... almost like grape toothpaste? Not sure if that'll be an entirely bad thing. It's definitely not pure grape smell, kind of muddled with a milky flavor and added sweetness.

The flavor does seem to work a bit in context of the wafer. Without it I imagine a pure grape flavor would be in stark contast to the rest of the treat. It still feels a little out place in candy, after adjusting to it, it's okay, but still odd and not quite what I'm looking for. It's a bit too sweet where from fruit flavors I expect something more authentic. This... is okay, but doesn't quite work for me.

Rating: 4 - Boof!

Jin Jin Jelly Straws

Nijiya Market surprisingly enough is not the only Asian market near my den, 99 Ranch is also rather close. This place sells items from a bunch of Asian cultures though, and this instance I picked up this Taiwanese snack because who doesn't love jelly? As explained before jelly snacks are basically a shot of a flavor delivered in a sweet somewhat-liquid form, nice for a really quick refresher after a meal. These ones come in straw form, which is a very convenient delivery mechanism.

...for humans. For paws it's not the best as I struggle to open the grape one. Even for humans it seems to be a bit of a flawed design because the perforation is a little bit below the jelly, meaning every time you're going to get some on your hands. I can just lick it off my paws I guess! Anyways the grape one has a really nice flavor that's like a grape Jolly Rancher except softer. I like how refreshing it is, sometimes candy leaves your mouth dry but this one requires nothing afterwards.

Onto the strawberry one which drips down onto my back leg (sigh), the taste reminds me of a strawberry tea. Once again very nice, and plenty of sweetness but not too sweet. The pineapple one on the other hand is just like sweet neutral flavor jelly. I don't get much pineapple. So it can be a mixed bag, but overall these are really nice ways to put a sweet flavor into your mouth. I would say without hassle, but there's always a little bit of hassle and mess opening them. Please fix?

Rating: 6 - Aruff!

November Japan Crate Odds and Ends

Aruff! Hi everyone, this is my first blog post so thank you all for reading as I begin this journey. I have quite the appetite, especially for new and out there stuff, and like any good boy I want to share all my food adventures with you.

But before we begin I'd be amiss if I didn't talk about the Japan Crate that just arrived a few weeks ago, and that would be my first Japanese candy box, the November Japan Crate. I started off getting a three month subscription and we'll see where things go for there. I'm all for whatever gets me the yummiest snacks at the best value.

Now since I've already scarfed up most of the snacks in here I won't do a full review for everything, but I'll give mini reviews for ones that I ate long ago.

Kagikko Chocolate Key - This one's pretty self explanatory - it's a bunch of chocolates arranged in a key shape. Why? I have no idea. It seems there are a bunch of these out there all in different shapes. The candies themselves tasted exactly like M&Ms, maybe a bit smaller. I ate them almost immediately because nobody eats just one M&M. Cool idea to arrange them in a shape I guess, but I wish the candy itself was more unique?

Rating: 3 - Rrr

Rilakkuma Gum - Okay first of all this packaging is ADORABLE! I love how cute Japanese packaging can be and this one certainly made me whimper in adoration. The gum itself surprisingly had a ridge shape to it, but once in my mouth it behaved like any other gum. It had a nice cola flavor which at first was pretty strong then it lost flavor quickly, which is kind of sad. I suppose I'm used to Extra.

Rating: 4 - Boof!