Japanese Snacks Are Amazing! (PDF)
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Popular Even Overseas I want Don’t they look delicious! Japanese Snacks are some! Amazing! Photography/Satoshi Osaki, Text/Kyoko Ohtsu Models/ Reina Pujol, Michael Osagai, Kamino Akutsu (the above 3: Junes) I love this Moa, Haruki, Natsuki, Yuna Yummy! one Delicious, fun and safe, the variety of Japanese snacks and Can I have sweets is amazing. The casual sweets children love are exquisite, more? from their packaging to their texture. Everyone eats them without thinking, but these sweets and snacks feature the creativity and attention to detail for which the Japanese are famous. This is fun! Splendide! ⑧ Japanese05 sweets are amazing!06 • Koeda • Morinaga 01 How cute! Just like the real thing! Too pretty Fun Shapes! to eat POINT That’s strange Products introduced on the left Open an Ottotto packet to discover the Happy Blowfish! They are so rare, luck smiles on anyone who finds one. Look closely at Kinoko-no- yama to see its ● Kinoko-no-yama ● Meiji resemblance with Apollo, http://www.meiji.co.jp/sweets/ its predecessor. chocolate/kinotake/ One time on the train from France to the of crackers and chocolate is difficult. Netherlands, I felt someone watching me However, like wagashi, sweet snacks are as I was eating Kinoko-no-yama developed around the concept of using (Mushroom mountain) snacks. I looked natural ingredients and with an emphasis up, and my eyes met those of the child on nature and the seasons. Some ● Takenoko-no-sato ● Meiji opposite me. I offered him one, but his examples are Kinoko-no-yama (Meiji), http://www.meiji.co.jp/sweets/ chocolate/kinotake/ mother accepted it, instead, and thanked Takenoko-no-sato (Meiji), Koeda me. “Why, it’s a mushroom!” she (Morinaga), and Ottotto (Morinaga). exclaimed. Mother and son were so The road to success has obstacles, impressed they even made a song: “It’s however. For example, Meiji made so small, but made with such care.” How hundreds of prototypes over five years can this one sweet inspire such a happy before perfecting Kinoko-no-yama. When scene? And so, my quest to discover why released in 1975 during the heyday of Japanese sweets are so outstanding block chocolate and chocolate bars, it ● Ottotto ● Morinaga began. was perceived as an oddity, especially http://www.morinaga.co.jp/ototo/ Many focus on the beauty and subtlety of with such a novel name. However, its wagashi, Japanese-style confectionary, release spawned a new snack category but sweet snacks are not far behind in in Japan: fancy chocolate snacks. their magnificence. Most sweets regarded Today, the characters Mr. Kinoyama by Japanese to be for children are (Kinoko-no-yama) and the Takenoko actually amazingly elaborate. Brothers (Takenoko-no-sato) have their Kinoko-no-yama is one example of a own microsite on Meiji’s corporate web sweet with the added enjoyment of being site. Where else but Japan are characters ● Koeda ● Morinaga shaped like the real thing. Unlike born from sweets? http://www.morinaga.co.jp/ koeda/ wagashi, changing the color and shape 07 08 02 The sweets of Japan is terrible!!!!! How mystifying to have paper wrapping inside the package Pretty Individual Wrappers! POINT I didn’t know that! The individual wrapping is creative, too Look at the front Outstanding care is taken with packaging. lightproof, high-antioxidant wrapping is Many sweet packets are not only used to protect them. Therefore, Country beautiful on the outside, but each piece Ma’am cookies, which have a high-fat inside is wrapped. The attention to detail content, come in aluminum-coated Look at the back in the printing on both sides of these wrappers. But Milky sweets are small packets is typically Japanese. individually wrapped in paper and With individual wrapping, leftover portions packaged in an aluminum-coated bag, remain fresh. Also, people can carry and Pop Candy has clear individual snacks in their bags, or distribute them to wrappers and outer packaging. visitors as they leave. Some say all this Of course, the wrapper printing and wrapping is excessive, but it shows the manufacturing process uses special The printed individual wrappers are meticulous, Japanese focus on food hygiene and technology. Fujiya constantly gathers too. safety. information on printing and manufacturing Individually wrapped Country Ma’am technology, as well as the sweets cookies, for example, will not break or themselves, to ensure quality control. crumble when held. The wrapper itself is They use this information to give their thick and made of strong material. “Our products an ingenious twist. Moreover, quality control ensures the wrapping is the Fujiya PR spokesperson said they airtight, even when immersed in water,” also found “many people play with the says a Fujiya PR spokesperson. What is wrappers.” The wrapping astonishing, though, is that the tough Fujiya had the fun idea of including one wrapper can be opened with minimum wrapper printed with a happy four-leaf effort. clover in every ten bags of Milky. In other is not just Open a Milky to discover Country Ma’am, Pop Candy, and Milky, words, one four-leaf clover wrapper is a four-leaf clover—a pictured right, are all popular Fujiya printed for every couple of thousand pretty, but also happy omen! ‘Milky’ is products. Their contents are individually wrappers. Anyone who finds one will no printed over the three- wrapped, but the various packaging doubt feel lucky. leaf clovers and ‘Happy’ combinations serve a deeper purpose. high-tech over the four-leaf clover. Sweets with a high fat content are ■ All products introduced on the right susceptible to light and oxygen that Fujiya: http://www.fujiya-peko.co.jp/ cause discoloring and deterioration, so 09 ©FUJIYA CO.,LTD 10 Opening the 03 Bizarre boxes pop open and close again package itself is fun! Easy-to-open packages! The diagonal valley-fold POINT line makes the opening narrower and the lid easier to close. Chocolate rolls out of the beak Of course, once you open it, you will close it again A cute shape when the lid The neat is closed opening makes it easier to take out the sweets The hook prevents the closed lid from opening. You may have noticed many Japanese abundant variety is amazing. We selected one push. Children love opening the the lid from opening after you close the boxes have perforations. Hold the tag the four long-selling products pictured beak, stuffing their mouth with chocolate box. ■ Products introduced on these pages and tear along the perforation to open the above from the countless products and closing the box, over and over. Many single chocolates come in boxes • Pocky /Ezaki Glico box easily, without tearing the other available. The Galbo box changes shape after you with the pieces arranged on a paper tray. http://www.glico.co.jp/ sides. Even children can open them. The lid on the latest Pocky package, open it. Pinch the neck and the lid closes The chocolates do not stick to the tray, • Choco Ball /Morinaga Also, do not forget most boxes can be pictured on the far left, pops open with a comfortably. The squat shape when the overlap, or lose their shape. http://www.morinaga.co.jp/ closed again. This way, the sweets box single move. The opening is curved, and lid is closed is quite cute. The sweets box is not a mere box. The • Galbo /Meiji is never left open. A small box costs as the contents are easy to remove. The Kinoko-no-yama box is rather advanced packaging technology not only • Kinoko-no-yama /Meiji little as 100 yen and conceals the double The Choco Ball box opens to form the detailed and innovative. Open it from the makes the eating experience fun, but http://www.meiji.co.jp/ pleasure of opening and closing it—only beak of Kyoro-chan, the bird featured on front towards the back along the also simply ensures product quality. Many chocolates are packed on trays to ensure in Japan. the familiar-shaped package. The balls perforation, and the flap becomes the lid. the portions are neat. The fun of opening the boxes and their roll out the open beak, which closes with Slip the flap into the front slit to prevent 11 12 02 04 ● Hello Kitty Nakayoshi Bakery (8 in the series) ● Re-ment: http://www.re-ment.co.jp/ Build your Sweets are fun even after they are eaten dream bakery! They come with toys! POINT The elaborate toys infatuate adults, too eight to create a bakery, as shown. Hello Kitty is used as the character in this series, so you can imagine how popular it is with Hello Kitty fans. *Showcase sold separately. ©1976, 1979, 1985, 1988, 1996, 2001, 2010 Sanrio Co., Ltd. Approval No.G510593 The box is packed with bread, cakes ©2010 RE-MENT and other bakery food that feel like the real thing. Other superb little touches include half-baked bread that needs another 30 minutes’ baking time and a cash register with bank notes inside. Kanji These toys are guaranteed to grab characters girls’ hearts. transform into Collect, combine and play with all 10 fun wooden toys in the series, ●Asobi Glico Children enjoy a real transformation (Ezaki Glico) 3-D animals! including Hebisan-no Wanage (Snake coits), Tsumiki Asobi (Building http://www.ezaki- with the Cho-henkan!! Moji-bakeru 2 blocks) and Nezumi-no Castanets (Mouse castanets). glico.net/asobiglico/ (Super transformer!! Letter changer 2) toys with sweets (bottom). Play with When Japanese think of sweets with much to consumers’ delight. the kanji-character shaped toys and toys, they think of Glico. In most The toys included are different for you will be delighted to find you have families, three generations will have boys and girls, and vary with the transformed them into the animals eaten Glico sweets and played with times: dolls, vehicles, traditional toys, represented by the kanji.