Tuesday 9 September 2014

Japan Sweets Review

   Those who know me know I have a love for Japan. Feudal Japan is of greater interest to me than present-day Japan, but I will admit that I am still pleasantly surprised by the mixture of tradition and modernism that is currently co-existing there. Even in Tokyo! But despite the greenery, the brutally honourable ancient lifestyle and the traditional music that firmly captured my heart a few years ago, I do love the bright colours and crazy designs of modern Japanese culture. I watch a few anime, though they are the mainstream ones - Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z when I was younger and am revisiting now, and Bleach and Naruto/Naruto Shippuden now (the latter is easily and unexpectedly my favourite of all - when Seeg suggested I try it, I was against it. "Why does the kid have whiskers, for god's sake?" I said. "Is he some kind of animal, or something?" Well, now I know).
   I also love the green tea obsession; just about everything is available in green tea flavour, which is baffling to me! But interesting nevertheless. And as some of you know, when I began this month's workout - Shaolin Warrior (yes, I know that Chinese and Japanese are very different things) - I also started drinking matcha tea powder grown in Nishio, Japan. So I'm a little more focused on Asia right now, but I promise this isn't an intentional theme.

   I've tried Japanese sweets before, and there's one thing I have to say about them: they're different. A good kind of different. The watapachi candy floss with popping candy brings out the child in me, and puccho sweets do too, because they're unlike anything we have here in England. If we had all this over here I'd have been a fat child instead of just a fat teenager. I also love Meiji Hello Pandas, because they remind me of some kind of alien biscuits that were virtually the same thing that I had when I was a kid, but for the life of me I can't remember what they're called. Which is why I have 3 boxes and 2 small bags of them.


   JapanSweetsNom.com isn't the first Japanese sweet shop I've found in the UK, but they do have the upper hand. As I mentioned before, I am a fan of certain animes - and I am very, very fussy about them - and Pokemon was my first love when I was 8 years old. I bought a 3DS last year just to play Pokemon (I bought a refurbished display model, so I saved £100 without compromising on performance, and Seeg then spent days trying to get me a shiny Skrelp in Pokemon X/Y because I love leafy sea dragons).
   I've not seen anime-themed sweets before, and that's where Japan Sweets has the upper hand. Look at this stuff! I'm a hoarder, I keep wrappers because I'm an idiot, and you can guarantee I'm keeping this stuff!! It's so cool! I got a few Super Mario Bros. things, too and I'm keeping those wrappers as well.
   So, as you can see, this place has unique stuff, including sweets of One Piece and Attack on Titan - two huge animes that I've never seen. Seeg's best friends back in the Netherlands love both of those animes, so you can bet that I'll be buying them a few pieces - I've not met one of them yet because he was living in the US when I came over, and he and I managed to have a few clashes in the past despite that fact, so I'm hoping to win him over a little!
   But they also have the more expected and better known pieces like Meiji Hello Pandas and Pocky sticks. The thing is, while other Japanese sweet shops seem to stock whatever they can get their hands on, JapanSweetsNom.com seem to go out of their way to find limited edition and awesome stuff, like these themed pieces, which I've seen nowhere else. I'd be over the moon if they got the Dragon Ball Z sodas! Yet more wrappers to keep!

Hello Panda and Panda Pocky

   It does have to be said that the Japanese are clever and efficient. The tiny little box of chewing gum - blue, cube-shaped, soda-flavoured chewing gum - shown below has a tiny little pocket on the front beneath the lid which contains what I initially thought were post-it notes, which I thought was odd, but I realised shortly after that they're small pieces of paper to wrap your gum in, and there are exactly 10 sheets for the 10 pieces of gum. Uh, all right, that's pretty flipping awesome. Cube gum, Pikachu and a tiny pocket with papers for disposal. I also love the different pokemon sillhouettes on the Pokemon monster ball sweets - I've guessed most of them right so far, because I'm cool like that.
   Then there are the pieces with free little gifts, like the Mario hi chew with a free little stamp! I love this! I know we have Kinder Eggs, but I've never liked them - the chocolate is foul (and yet the little maxi bars are amazing) and the 'toys' are always so very disappointing! But I really, really liked this, it feels like you get more for your money beyond a smattering of chocolate and a small jigsaw puzzle.
   But there's more grown-up stuff, like the Melty Kiss chocolates which are gorgeous, and more familiar things like Kit Kats - except they're green tea Kit Kats or bakeable pudding flavour Kit Kats. Seriously, it's awesome, and the green tea ones are surprisingly good! So there are things for all tastes! Be it ridiculous, sweet, sour and colourful, or chocolatey, biscuity, slightly-more-grown-up-ful.


   Not only is the shop itself great and fresh, but they're such lovely people! I've been speaking with them on twitter and they're so friendly and so real - being an Etsy seller I admit I've taken friendly sellers a little bit for granted, but when you find someone selling on their own website but are still real and down to earth, well that's just brilliant, and it's very encouraging to come back to. I'd also usually be afraid to ask a shop if they're likely to stock such-and-such a product, but in this case I really, really do feel like asking them if they could get ahold of something in particular wouldn't be rude or an inconvenience (yes, I know, but I'm English, as far as we're concerned just looking at another person is an inconvenience).

   And also, it needs to be said: the website is easy to navigate, but more importantly the postage prices are brilliant. All this stuff cost £3.94 to ship within the UK, and just a couple of pieces would only be about 75p - another very, very encouraging factor to return to. Their website is cute and the service is wonderful. I cannot fault them in the slightest, even if I wanted to. Rest assured, you lovely people, you've won me over from other websites, and that's something I can say whole-heartedly, too.


   Aaaaand because I have so much, I'm willing to share! ...Though reluctantly. Very reluctantly.
   Enter using rafflecopter below and you can win a box of Meiji Hello Pandas, Karipori Pokemon candy sticks, Super Mario Bros. U Candy with a free pack of stickers, and a Kajiriccho Grape stick. It's not much, but there's only so much you can expect from someone with a box full of sweets! The more I have the more selfish I get.
   The giveaway is open worldwide until the 20th of September, and shipping is entirely my own responsibility. As usual, due to negative personal experiences, I won't be publicly announcing the winner, though I will be announcing right here when a winner has been chosen and has accepted the prize.


The winner has accepted the prize, it's now winging its way to Italy!


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Rules: the giveaway is open worldwide, and the winner is chosen at random. The winner will be contacted via the email addressed used to access the widget and will have 72 hours (3 days) to respond. If they do not respond within 72 hours, a new winner will be chosen and the original winner notified that it is too late to claim the prize. The new winner will have another 72 hours to respond. The prize cannot be changed, sod off, they're my sweets; all decisions are mine and all decisions are final.



93 comments:

  1. Kit Kat Green Tea Matcha: http://www.japansweetsnom.com/storev2/open-product.php?page=viewproduct&product=biscuits-kit-kat-green-tea-matcha

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  2. i love japanese sweets, love the hello kitty stuff you can get. My fave are Pockys

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  3. they all look nice, but if I had to choose just one i'd go for panda pocky

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  4. I love the shaka shaka gummy sweets, yummy! And also have a super kawaii packaging!

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  5. I'm a huge fan of One Piece and this gum with the collectable poster is totally lust worthy!

    http://www.japansweetsnom.com/storev2/open-product.php?page=viewproduct&product=limited-editions-one-piece-illust-gum-collectable-poster

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  6. I love kit kat and the green tea flavor looks yummy. :)

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  7. Love these especially the pokemon a big hit with the kids

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  8. I have seen the Hello Panda cookies in some of our shops, yet the Pokemon sweets are out of this world! :D Would love to try any kind of Pokemon candy.

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  9. WATAGAMU - COLA (Cola flavoured candy floss that turns into chewing gum).

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  10. Definitely the Panda Pocky. I have tried them before, and they are delicious.

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  11. ATTACK ON TITAN HARD CANDY - CITRUS

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  12. Hello Panda!! Ive had these before and theyre so cute!x

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  13. My sister is obsessed with all things Japanese, would go crazy for these.

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  14. everything looks amazing, would love to try it all but i will go for the hello panda cookies

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  15. Green Tea flavoured Kit Kat sounds amazing

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  16. MELTY KISS - GREEN TEA
    Sounds interesting!

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  17. this looks so good I would so love to win these sweets ^_^

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  18. Would love to surprise my sister with these, she's massively into everything Japanese!

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  19. The Hello Panda biscuits, I had some of these in Hong Kong years ago and they were great :)

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  20. We love the Hello Panda cookies and bought loads when we went to Hyper Japan recently, but we also loved the Pocky. Only problem is they go too quicky. ;)

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  21. Meiji Hello Panda, Chocolate box is my favourite; looks like they're popular too as they're sold out <3

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  22. hello panda <3 !

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  23. I like the Meiji Hello Panda Biscuits

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  24. I would like this : http://www.japansweetsnom.com/storev2/store.php?page=viewproduct&product=pocky-panda-pocky

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  25. i really love the Meiji Hello Panda Biscuits!

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  26. Would love to try Karipori Pokemon - grape & melon

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  27. WELL Pocky are a must when it comes to Asian sweets... But when I was browsing the site I put my eyes on the Rilakkuma Bretzels... I'm now so curious about them ヽ(´o`;

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  28. Pocky! http://www.japansweetsnom.com/storev2/store.php?page=viewproduct&product=pocky-rilakkuma-bretzels

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  29. Any DIY candy! lol I would love to try the SAKU SAKU PANDA DIY KIT

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  30. So hard to chose!!! but I do love pocky... so I guess I'll go with the Panda Pocky!

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  31. http://japansweetsnom.com/storev2/open-product.php?page=viewproduct&product=videogames-super-mario-surprises

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  32. Love the PANDA POCKY sticks! Delicious :)

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  33. thanks! :) love: http://www.japansweetsnom.com/storev2/store.php?page=viewproduct&product=pandas-meiji-hello-panda-chocolate-bag
    mail cogitoergosum8587@yahoo.it

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  34. I like japanese sweet, especially pocky. If ever i win, i will surely share it with my sister and also my birthday is already a few days from now, this will surely be an awesome gift.

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  35. I love the Panda Pocky sticks

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  36. Panda biscuits look good

    Lynsey Buchanan

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  37. The hello pandas, they remind me of cartoonies!

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    1. Oh my gosh, you're a star! Cartoonies!! That's what they were called! It's been bothering me for years - I'm not even exaggerating!

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  38. Oh my gosh I've never seen japanese sweets before, they all so exciting!! I'd love to try the strawberry hello pandas, and green tea flavour kit kats - what on earth are these!!! :D

    ~Charlotte Ingham

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  39. The Meji Hello Panda Biscuits look absolutely delicious :3

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  40. The rilakuma bretzels lol!!! What the heck are bretzels?

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  41. 1. Kit Kat - Green Tea (Matcha)
    http://www.japansweetsnom.com/storev2/open-product.php?page=viewproduct&product=biscuits-kit-kat-green-tea-matcha-bag
    2. Milky Candies - Green Tea
    http://www.japansweetsnom.com/storev2/open-product.php?page=viewproduct&product=japanese-candy-milky-candies-green-tea
    3. Hello Kitty Chocolate Milkshake
    http://www.japansweetsnom.com/storev2/store.php?page=viewproduct&product=hello-kitty-hello-kitty-chocolate-milkshake

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  42. You guys need to visit the site and try these sweets :)

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  43. The Rocket DIY Candy Kit looks intriguing :)

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  44. any of the pokemon sweets as my son is pokemon mad at the moment http://www.japansweetsnom.com/department/pokemon

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  45. Give me some hello panda and pocky omnomnom

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  46. i love all japanese snack but i most love is KIT KAT - GREEN TEA (MATCHA)
    http://www.japansweetsnom.com/storev2/store.php?page=viewproduct&product=biscuits-kit-kat-green-tea-matcha-

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  47. Absolutely the KIT KAT - GREEN TEA (MATCHA) *___* I've ever been so curious to try it!

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  48. Super Mario Bros. Completely retro... Love it!

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  49. The Green Tea Kit Kat. It looks and sounds yummy :)

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  50. Raspberry M&Ms, I love trying new candy :D

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  51. Popin Cookin Panda Bento Kit - though I love all the DIY candy kits!

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  52. Panda pocky! I love pocky and this looks adorable :)

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  53. Green Tea flavoured Kit Kat :)

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  54. Kit Kat - Green Tea (Matcha) :D

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  55. Between the green tea kit kat and the Hello Kitty chocolate shake would be very hard to choose ;)

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  56. The one with Pikachu on looks great :3

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  57. any kind of pocky, though i've never tried the panda ones and the packaging looks super cute! ^~^

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  58. http://www.japansweetsnom.com/storev2/store.php?page=viewproduct&product=pokemon-pokemon-monster-ball Gotta Catch, no, EAT them all!

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  59. http://www.japansweetsnom.com/storev2/store.php?page=viewproduct&product=biscuits-kit-kat-green-tea-matcha-
    green tea kitkat..is that chocalte thats good for you?Looks interesting

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  60. I love the look of the PANDA POCKY!

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  61. All of them sound great. Too hard to choose just one :)

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  62. Panda Pocky!!!!! I just can't stand the looks and I'm sure it smells AND tastes great yum

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  63. I love the sound of the Kumamon Puccho Grapefruit flavour:
    http://www.japansweetsnom.com/storev2/store.php?page=viewproduct&product=puccho-kumamon-puccho-japanese-grapefruit

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  64. Love the sound of these http://www.japansweetsnom.com/storev2/store.php?page=viewproduct&product=puccho-pucchito-grape

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  65. the pokemon ones, I definitely want to catch them all!

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  66. Kumamon Puccho Japanese Grapefruit

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  67. Green Tea flavoured Kit Kats sound AWESOME!!

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  68. The Milk White Pocky Sticks - I've tried it before and it's yummy :P

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  69. The raspberry chocolate M&Ms sound amazing!

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I do read every single comment, and I will try to respond where I can. If you have an important question about my blog or my shop, however, then you might be better off contacting me directly by email. Thanks so much for reading my blog!