Pocky Day!

Not really an official day, but today is Pocky and Pretz's anniversary! Yay! They're going into their 11th year. They were started on Nov. 11, year Heisei 11, so it was 11.11.11. And today is Heisei year 21, Nov. 11. For about the past month they've added 11% more in their Pocky packages. Yay for us!

I'm not talking about Pretz since it's not nearly as popular or awesome as Pocky, though still very good in its own rights.

So to celebrate, I'm now eating a box of Pocky after a long day and awesome live. Yay for Pocky!!!

Microwavable Maple Milk Koalas

More Koala cookies! This is the "winter" version. Because Japan has different snacks for different reasons. This one's a maple milk flavor. Which was actually not too bad.



The weird thing for me was that they suggested you microwave it. For 50 seconds.


______
Store: Lawson

Butter Soy Sauce Tongari Corn

It's another butter thing. This time with soy sauce. Yea...I don't get it either.



______
Store: Lawson

Mayo Beef

As if just plane mayo isn't enough, they had to make it "mayo beef". Well, it's from the same brand as the other weird chips, so I guess this is just one more to add.

Morning Banana

Yes. It says "Morning Banana" on there. 朝バナナ. It's also a drink. One of those you get for a quick energy burst kinda thing. And it might be one of those that has the jelly inside, but I don't know cuz I didn't check. But jelly drinks are pretty cool.



______
Store: Lawson

Butter Corn Onigiri

Yea. What? There hasn't been anything in a while that really caught my eye and made me question what the Japanese are thinking, but this was definitely one of those. This is butter corn. I'm not even sure why. But yea. Anyway. This is weird for me.



______
Store: Lawson

Edamame Chips

Yup. It's been a while since I've posted. This was actually from a while ago. Oh well.

This is edamame (えだ豆), which is soybeans, flavored chips. I'm not a fan of edamame, so...yea. None for me, thanks.



______
Store: Lawson

Macaroni Sandwich

Yea... I know there are macaroni salads here. That wasn't very good. I don't think this would be either. Who ever thought of putting macaroni between slices of bread? For one, it'd be rather messy. At least for me. I don't know how I can keep all the macaroni from falling.



______
Store: 99

[Review] Mango Milk Tea

Yes, mango milk tea. Mango drinks by themselves aren't bad. I like mango juices and stuff. But I wasn't sure how it would be when combined with milk tea so I got it. Hehe.



Honestly, I'm not too sure what to think of it. There's definitely a mango taste, if that's the most important thing for you. But the combination with the tea is kinda funky. You can taste the mango, then a little later you can taste the milk tea, but then it kinda mixes together and you're not quite sure what it is anymore...

It's a good sweetness though. Not too horribly sweet like some drinks, so I like that. After drinking about half of it I've gotten used to its weird blend and it goes down quite nicely. I probably wouldn't get it again for the 158 yen though...

______
Store: Lawson

Cheesecake Takenokono Hoshi

This looks yummy too. I don't know if I'd be able to choose between this and the tiramisu Kinokono Yama below. Hmmm...choices, choices.



______
Store: Lawson

Tiramisu Kinokono Yama

Tiramisu is yummy stuff. I probably should've tried this. I don't remember the price though.



______
Store: Lawson

[Review] Beef Kabob Pringles Chips

I was totally amazed and ready to try this when I first saw it. Beef kabob is yummy. Pringles is yummy. It should work!



But really? Not as good as expected. It was basically a toned down version of BBQ chips. And I'm not a big fan of that. This was a total let down. I know I shouldn't be expecting much, but still...

______
Store: Lawson

Banana Oreo

More Oreo stuff. And more banana flavors. So I guess summer is the season for bananas? This doesn't sound quite that appetizing to me either. I think I'd pick the green tea flavor over this one.



______
Store: Lawson

[Review] Banana Pucca

Pucca is kinda like another version of the chocolate koala cracker things. Both taste about the same. But there was a banana filling version of Pucca on the shelf today! And at only 105 yen I couldn't resist trying it. Hehe.



It's not bad. It definitely has a banana taste, but not like a real banana. A fake banana. Like other kinds of banana snacks that aren't made of real banana. If that makes any sense? Haha. But again, it's not bad. It might be a bit too sweet for me to eat all the time though.

______
Store: Lawson

Soy-flavored Kit Kat

It's a soybean (きな粉 - kinako) flavored Kit Kat. Yup. Well, I guess this isn't too weird. But still, you probably wouldn't find something like this back in America.

I know I haven't been updating much the past month. I'd love to post more, but there just hasn't been a whole lot of new and interesting stuff coming into the conbini's. ::Sigh::

______
Store: Lawson

Red bean bread

This actually isn't something very special/out of the ordinary, but still probably something you wouldn't see in an American supermarket/bakery/store. You'd know what it is if you're familiar with Asian bakeries though. Very yummy stuff.



And on the inside...



Mmm...I love red bean stuff <3

______
Store: Lawson

Green Tea Oreo

First off, I've never seen Oreo in stick form. Second, I've never seen different flavors of Oreo. However, McDonald's also currently have a green tea (抹茶 - maccha) Oreo-flavored dessert, so I guess it's popular now?

Anyway, it sounds interesting. I might get it for a try over a weekend or something. But that's only if I think I can actually handle the probable over-sweetness of it all...



______
Store: Lawson

[Review] Curry-flavored chip sticks

This is a review for the curry-flavored chip sticks I posted a couple entries earlier here.

This was a disappointment, sad to say. Well, for me at least. The curry flavor was way too spicy, and didn't really taste much like curry. It was more like lots of pepper and lots of random spices mixed together. I actually got sick after a while and couldn't finish it all. And there was also definitely no potato flavor, despite it being potato chip sticks.

::sigh::

The lesson? Not everything curry in Japan tastes good.

And I had such high hopes for this......

[Review] Beef Curry Pan

Came across this today, and it just looked amazing delicious. I have, surprisingly, never had one before, so I thought this was a good chance to try it since the onigiri I normally get wasn't there.



The bread was nice and soft and the curry wasn't spicy, which is good for me because I'm horrible at spicy food. And it had a decent curry taste. It wasn't too strong, but you could definitely tell it was curry. Which is, of course, a good thing.

My only problems were that the bread was too thick and there wasn't enough curry, and that I couldn't tell if there was actually any beef in there. It might've just been beef-flavored, and not contain any beef at all.



But it was worth the 105yen.

______
Store: Lawson

Curry-flavored potato sticks

This one's really got me interested. I love curry. I love potato fries. The combination just sounds delicious. One day I'll go back and get it. I swear.



How can anyone resist?!

The curry's by CoCo, a restaurant. I've been there once. It was ok. The curry was a bit too watery for my taste. But this is on chips. So it should be ok?

______
Store: Lawson

[Review] Hamburger onigiri

Yup. That's right. It's a hamburger rice ball. Well, at least that's what it's called. The rice isn't really in the shape of a ball. More like a thick patty rice cake thing. And then there's a hamburger patty on top of that with a piece of seaweed half wrapping it all.



It was actually pretty tasty. The rice was sticky so it didn't come completely undone. The hamburger had a sweet-ish sauce with it, which was rather yummy. And I think there was a very thin layer of mayonnaise in between. Although I normally hate mayo (mustard is even worse though), I could barely taste it so it was good for me.

Verdict? I'd definitely get this again.

______
Store: 99

Mayo chips

The absolutely most disgusting thing I could possibly come across. Seriously. I hate mayo. With a passion. And seeing it splattered all over chips? Gross.



You can't really see the picture too well, but there's basically lines of mayo running across each chip. Ugh. The Japanese sure love their mayo...

______
Store: Lawson

Cheesecake Hi-Chew

Mmm...Hi-Chew (a gummy candy that sorta has a similar consistancy to gum). It's yummy stuff. But for some reason I always only get the grape flavor. Heh. But yesterday I saw a strawberry cheesecake flavor!

I'd like it more if there wasn't the strawberry in it though. Cuz I just don't like strawberries. Heh. But I'll take the cheesecake if nobody wants it. Hehehe.



______
Store: Family Mart

Wasabi seaweed chips

This really doesn't surprise me anymore. I mean, you can get normal wasabi seaweed as snacks, so why not make them into chips?

______
Store: Lawson

Sakura drinks

So now comes the drinks that are sakura-flavored.


This is part of the Desserts Series from Kochakaden (紅茶花伝), which is a milk tea by Coca-Cola. They made the caramel-flavored tea that I mentioned in the last drinks post I made. So this one is sakura-fragrant (薫る桜 - kaoru sakura). Maybe it's just the smell then? Since I'm not sure how you would make a drink that tasted like sakura. But hey, there were sakura-flavored chips a while back.


And this is Sakura Mist by Canada Dry. I'm not sure what kind of drink this is though, so don't ask me...

______
Store: Lawson

Bread chips

These were in the chips section, and have a taste like really really thinly sliced French bread with sugar and butter on top. I actually did get a bag, and it was really yummy! The only problem was, it was definitely at least 80% air... I know they do this so the chips won't be crushed or whatever, but it had more air in there than almost any other chips bag I've gotten! Even for something this delicious, it isn't worth the 140 yen for a 2/3 bag of air...



______
Store: Lawson

Cheese curry ramen

More ramen flavors! This time it's Cheese Curry. Regular curry-flavored ramen have been spotted every now and then, but this is the first time I saw it with cheese. Honestly, I'm not too sure about this combination either...



______
Store: Lawson

Bitter caramel tea

The first time posting a drink! Yay!

I had actually wanted to post a couple pics of dessert-flavored milk tea before, but they weren't selling them anymore by the time I started this. ::sigh:: Oh well.

Anyway, this is Lipton's Bitter Caramel tea. I've seen caramel-flavored drinks before, and the caramel milk tea I've had was actually pretty good, but I'm not sure what they mean by "bitter" caramel. Maybe something like bitter chocolate? But I've never even heard of bitter caramel before... Either way, it was an interesting find.



______
Store: Lawson

Butterfat and rum in Fran

Fran is another Pocky-like snack, where there's a stick dipped in chocolate. But Fran is a bit more fancy. The dipped chocolate usually has other things in with it, like nuts and stuff. But this one threw me off a bit. The ingredients in the dipping was listed on the outside of the bag.



Looking closely, you can see this list:
raisin
white cream
butterfat
rum
vanilla
wheat flour

The butterfat being listed was really gross sounding. I don't know of anyone who would find it appetizing upon hearing that. But people might like seeing the rum ingredient. Let's get drunk off of Fran?

______
Store: Kohyo Supermarket

Pumpkin Pretz

Pretz has had a variety of flavors, and while I don't like many of them, they never seemed strange to me. Until now.

It's pumpkin flavored. I don't know if it's just me or what, but it's very strange to me that they would choose pumpkin, of all things. But then again, I'm biased against them...



______
Store: Kohyo Supermarket

Ramen chip fries

They're not really chips like the way we have them, in slices, but they're more like chip-fries. They're chips, but in the shape of fries...

It really is ramen flavored. Well, ramen-made-with-thick-pork-belly flavor. According to the Kanji, at least (濃厚豚骨 - noukou tonkotsu). And I guess that according to Yahoo! Japan, it was the best ramen flavor of 2007-2008. Interesting, to say the least.

Also, sorry for the blurry picture. I didn't realize it was all blurry like that when I took it...



______
Store: Lawson

Wasabeef chips

Wasabeef (わさビーフ), a combination of the words "wasabi" and "beef". That says it all. It's chips, in wasabi and beef flavor. I can't even imagine how that would taste. Or that this combination could ever even exist. But, alas, it does...



______
Store: Lawson

Rose-scented chocolote

Here's another Meiji chocolate. It's strawberry flavored, but is also rose-scented (ローズ香り - roozu kaori). Looks pretty, doesn't it? Too bad for them I don't like strawberries or roses.



______
Store: Lawson

Toppo flavors

Here are a bunch of new flavors from Toppo! Some of them are a bit strange.


This is praline flavor. I'm not really sure what it is, but it's some kind of French confectionery made with nuts and sugar syrup.


This is some kind of Asian chestnut (和栗 - waguri) dessert flavor. Dessert made with it is really yummy, so I might try it if I see it on sale somewhere.


Next, eclair flavor! I can't figure out what that Kanji says. It's not in my dictionary so I can't even look it up. If anybody knows what it is, let me know!

EDIT: So I found out what the Kanji is. It's coffee. I never knew there was Kanji for that... Anyway, it's 珈琲 - koohii. Learn something new every day.


The last one, strawberry omelet flavor. I find this to be the strangest. The picture looks more like a crepe, and the English on the side says "Strawberry Cream Soft Cake".

These last three are part of the adult (大人 - otona) series. I guess it's for grown up people with more refined taste? I can understand the chestnut dessert and the eclair flavored ones, but I don't see how the omelet/cake one fits into an "adult" taste. Hmmm...

______
Store: Kohyo Supermarket

New Meiji chocolate flavors

Here are some new chocolate flavors from Meiji. They both seem rather fancy, and sound pretty yummy too. They're very tempting, but not with that price (210 yen). I'll see if they hit the 99 conbini later on. They look like they'd be good dessert chocolate.


Cheesecake tart. I'm not sure why they called it a tart though. It looks like a regular cheesecake to me. But I love cheesecake. Especially the crust. Though I guess they can't really put a crust in these tiny square chocolate pieces, huh.


This one is strawberry mille-feuille. Looks really good too, except for the whole strawberry part.

______
Store: Lawson

Banana crepe koalas

I've always loved the koala-shaped chocolate-filled snacks by Lotte. The most variation I've seen are vanilla or strawberry-flavored filling, and sometimes I saw a chocolate-flavored koala. But this is the most interesting filling flavor I've ever seen. And I actually might go back and get some to try. I love banana crepes. This is an awesome combination.



______
Store: Lawson

[Review] Beef tongue chips

I also got a bag of the beef tongue chips. The first impression I had of it was that there was a lot of pepper. I could smell it when I opened the bag, and I could see all the pepper sprinkled in with the chips.

The taste was definitely a lot stronger than the sakura chips, if mostly just the pepper. I could taste a bit of beef tongue every now and then. It's the BBQ kind, not the kind of beef tongue you would find in Western Chinese restaurants that come in steak-like form (which I personally find to be delicious). It was a bit too salty for my taste, and the pepper added to that effect too. I finished the bag, but by the end I felt like I was drowning in salt.

I might not eat this more than once either, but I liked it more than the sakura chips. This one at least had a discernible taste.

[Review] Sakura Chips

I recently bought a bag of the sakura chips that I had posted about earlier. When I first opened the bag, there was an immediate waft of flower fragrance that smelled sweet, but not too overpowering. I'm not sure if it really did smell like sakura, because it felt like there was something else along with it.

The taste was a bit weird at first. It took me a while before I could eat a second chip. It had a strange aftertaste, but not a strong one. Just felt like there was something left over that you hadn't been able to completely get rid of. I can't pinpoint a taste, but I think it was more sweet than anything, which might have been what caught be off guard, because chips aren't normally sweet. But after a while I got used to it and I finished the whole bag. It really did feel like I was eating flower petals though. Not necessarily in the texture, but mostly because of the smell, I think.

I wouldn't eat this more than once though.

Banana bread

Banana bread isn't all that weird. My mother makes some damn good ones. And then I saw this today, and was completely caught off guard.



Yes, it's banana bread. In the shape and color of a real banana. Apparently it isn't actually made of banana, it just has banana filling on the inside. Think of it what you will.

______
Store: Lawson

Beef stew

Japanese conbini's aren't just about the quick grab of some random snack to keep you over til your next meal. You can get that meal right there. And they'll heat it up for you! Yay! While I've known this wonderful fact for a while, this is the first time I've seen this on the shelves.



It's a bowl of beef stew. I was actually kind of surprised to find this at the conbini. It just never seemed like something so liquidy would be sold. I've always just seen rice and noodles with sides of katsu or something, but never actual stew. It looks pretty good too...

______
Store: Lawson

Cheesy ramen flavors

I walked by the ramen (real Japanese? ラーメン - raamen) section and saw these two very unsettling flavors.


First I saw this Cheese & Garlic thing.


And then I looked to my right and saw this Cheese & Tomato thing.

These just sound very unappetizing to me. Really. Gross. There's curry ramen, and I'm totally ok with that (though I still need to try it). But cheese? With garlic? And tomato?! No thank you.

______
Store: Lawson

Setsubun sushi

Today is Setsubun (節分), the official day before spring (doesn't mean it's getting any warmer though, unfortunately). Traditionally, you throw roasted soybeans (炒り豆 - irimame) out the door (or the more entertaining way, throw them at a member of the family wearing a demon mask) while chanting "鬼は外。福は内。" ("Oni wa soto. Fuku wa uchi.") It's telling the demons, or all the bad things, to go out and the luck, or all the good things, to come in. You can also eat the roasted soybeans for luck. We got some in class today, and it actually wasn't too bad.

There's also apparently a special kind of sushi (寿司) for this day here in Osaka. It's kept in a roll form instead of being cut up like normal. You're supposed to eat the whole thing while facing a certain direction (east I think?) without saying anything.

The Lawson I usually go grab lunch from was selling them. I asked to take a picture, because one of the guys was wearing a demon head thing, and got talked into buying a sushi roll as well.


Guys outside selling sushi to people in the rain. I accidentally cut off the horns of the demon head thing. ::sad::


The sushi I ended up getting. It has fried egg, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, cucumber, fish, and other stuff I don't know what in it.

It also came with this Rirakkuma (リラックマ, the Relax Bear) compass toy. They gave me four. Because when they asked why I wanted to take a picture I said it's because I'm American and wanted to show my friends, so they gave me more to give to my friends. So uh...if anybody wants one, I can save it for you.



______
Store: Lawson