10 Snacks That Will Make You Want to Move to Japan

I thought Japanese food would be all about the meals: fresh sushi, sizzling teriyaki, and crispy tempura. Instead, it turned out to be Japan’s snacks that have won my food-heart. They’re usually creative, often surprising, and always delicious. Next time you visit this quirky country, here are a few snacks that I recommend raiding the store for:

1. Meltykiss

The charming name is reason enough to buy these little squares of chocolate covered in coco powder. It’s truly the creamiest chocolate I have ever tasted. The texture is weirdly dry and velvety, and each cube practically dissolves in your mouth. I’m completely fascinated by the sensation every time I eat one!

2. Onigiri

Onigiri are soft rice balls with savory fillings, typically covered in dried seaweed. Eating one is pretty similar to eating a big piece of sushi. They usually cost a little over 100 Yen ($1) each and all that rice makes them amazingly filling. They’re perfect as a mid-day snack or even as a light meal.

3. Flavoured Kit Kats

Forget plain chocolate, Japanese Kit Kats come in every flavor imaginable, from wasabi to blueberry cheesecake. The flavours vary by region, as well as by season. Whenever I visit a new region of Japan, I’m always excited to discover the local Kit Kat flavor. Japan’s international airports carry dozens of different Kit Kats, so stock up the next time you have a layover in Tokyo.

4. Taiyaki

These fish-shaped snacks remind me of pancakes, except they come with warm fillings that range from red bean paste to custard. You’ll often smell them being cooked at stalls in street markets or festivals.

5. Cream Collon

Aside from having a slightly unfortunate name that looks like “colon” on first glance, these sweet snacks are nothing but good. They’re basically the candy version of an ice-cream cone, with a waffle cone-like cookie wrapped around a sugary vanilla centre.

6.Mochi

Mochi is a chewy rice cake which is soft and just the right amount of sweet. I particularly love the chocolate ones because there’s a pocket of liquid chocolate in the centre of the chocolate-flavoured mochi.

7.KFC Potato Chips

Japan loves its KFC. Many Japanese people even eat KFC on Christmas as homage to Western turkey dinners. These chips are satisfyingly crispy and they really do taste like fried chicken.

8.Pocky

Pocky are cookie sticks covered in different sweet-flavoured coatings, like chocolate or strawberry. I’m a particular fan of the “Pocky Crush” because the stick is covered in flavoured cookie bits, and then coated with a layer of chocolate.

9. Chocolate-covered Potato Chips

These are a brilliant mixture of sweet and savory: Salty potato chips covered in creamy milk chocolate. A package only contains about 6 chips, but that’s probably a good thing because I could easily inhale a whole bag if it was available.

10.Chocolate Rice Cracker Salt Caramel

The name is a description in itself. This is another snack that perfectly mixes sweet and savory. I love how the salty caramel flavor compliments the crunchy rice cracker. And, of course, the fact that they’re also covered in chocolate is an added bonus. 

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