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Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015

Lindsey Morse
ByLindsey MorseApr 22, 2015 | 14 comments

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Box

Japan Crate is a monthly subscription that sends full-sized, Japanese candy and DIY food kits straight from Tokyo.

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Inside

Japan Crate sent us this box for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Contens

The Subscription Box: Japan Crate

The Cost: $12 per month for the mini crate (4-6 candies); $25 per month for the original crate (8-12 candies and DIY Kits); $30 per month for the premium crate (10-14 candies and DIY Kits).

The Products: Full-sized Japanese candy and DIY food kits.

Ships to: Worldwide. (US shipping is free. Shipping elsewhere is $10.)

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Card 1

Japan Crate includes a card detailing the items in the box. (Note that this is a review of the premium crate.)

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Card 2

On the reverse, there’s a really neat cartoon.

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Squash

Power Squash

This energy drink has a flavor like bubblegum or cotton candy, but with the zip of a Red Bull. I tend to steer clear of energy drinks, so I’ll pass this along to an adventurous friend.

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Lotte

On Shokora Houjun

Koume Chan Plum

I really liked the On Shokora Houjun bar! It’s a dark chocolate bar topped with freeze-dried pieces of strawberry and raspberry. I love freeze-dried fruit, but I’d never tried it on chocolate before. Delicious!

The Koume Chan Plum candies are sweet and sour ume gummies with a yuzu jelly center. According to Japan Crate, yuzu (aromatic citrus) and ume (sour plum) are popular Japanese fruits. I liked these gummies, and I thought the ume & yuzu combination was unusual and delicious.

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Fruit Drop

Kami Bikkuriman Wafer

Fujiya Fruit Drops

The Fujiya Fruit Drops tasted a lot like traditional American hard candies. They come in grape, lemon, pineapple, and strawberry.

According to Japan Crate, card + wafer packs are very popular in Japan, and I think it’s interesting to see cards packed with something other than bubble gum! Here’s a picture of what was inside the pack:

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Cards

I don’t know anything about this card range, but I like the artwork.

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Meiji

Meiji Japanese White Chocolate Bar (40 g.)- $2.93

Glico Kapuriko Mini- $1.36 

I prefer dark chocolate to white, but I still enjoyed this bar. Apparently, Meiji is one of Japan’s most famous confectionery companies. Japan Crate recommends trying this frozen, which is such a great idea, I think.

I’m getting used to seeing these cone-shaped candies in Japanese boxes. Luckily, I really enjoy them. Japan Crate subscribers received chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry. (Mine was vanilla.)

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 mini

Kantorimaamu Crispy

Hi-Chew Minis (Item is currently out of stock.)- $1.89

The Kantorimaamu crispy cookie was made with oats and granola. I’ve never heard of granola being used in a cookie before!

I really like Hi-Chew, so I was excited to try the mini version. The full sized candies are soft and chewy, but the minis were covered with a hard candy shell. Both versions have great fruit flavors including apple, grape, pineapple, and strawberry.

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Pancake

Animal Pancake DIY (.67 oz)- $2.49

This DIY kit allows you to make your own animal-shaped pancakes. The kit included a tray, mixing spoon, powdered batter mixes, traceable mat, and mini piping bag.

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Pancake Unpacked

This kit makes one of four animals shapes. (I received the mouse.)

The first step was to mix the batters.

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Pancake Batter

I transferred the pink batter to the piping bag and piped along the outline of the mat, then filled in the empty space with the yellow batter.

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Piping

The pancake cooked in the microwave for 40 seconds. When it had puffed up and set, I took it out and removed the backing paper.

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Cooked Pancake

I think it turned out pretty well! This was definitely the most advanced DIY kit I’ve received so far, but I think older kids (especially those with a love of crafts) would have a lot of fun with it.

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Ichigo

NeruNeru Ichigo DIY (Currently Out of Stock) (.77 oz.)- $2.49

Premium crates are guaranteed to include two DIY candy kits. This is the second one I received. This particular DIY Kit provides instructions on how to build your own chocolate-covered strawberry wafer sticks.

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Ichigo Unpacked

This kit was a lot easier than the DIY pancake kit. The first step was to make the strawberry dipping sauce. I poured the pink packet into the mixing tray, stirred in water, and then added the green packet.

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Ichigo Strawberry

When the green packet was added, the strawberry mixture became light, fluffy, and foamy.

To finish, I made the chocolate sauce (by mixing water with the third packet of powder) and transferred the multi-colored crispies into the remaining compartment in the tray. 

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Ichigo Complete

I then dipped the wafer sticks.

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Dipped Wafers

The finished candy was really good! I especially liked the foamy strawberry dip.

Japan Crate Subscription Box Review – April 2015 Konpeito

Konpeito Sugar Candy BONUS ITEM (3.06 oz)- $2.97

Subscribers to the Premium Japan Crate receive a bonus item each month. This month’s bonus is Konpeito Sugar Candy, described as a sweeter version of rock candy. I love crunchy, sugary candy, and I thought this was delicious.

Verdict: I think Japan Crate is so much fun! It’s hard to determine a value for this box because I couldn’t find the majority of the items for sale online, but I think the price is fair. I love discovering new Japanese candy, and I really enjoy the DIY kits Japan Crate includes in their boxes.

What do you think about Japan Crate? Do you love Japanese DIY snacks too?

Lindsey Morse
Lindsey Morse

Lindsey is a professional baker, cold brew coffee addict, and rosé aficionado who loves writing about food and wine. When she’s not sharing her love of subscription boxes with the world, you’ll find her in the podcasting studio, perfecting her cake decorating techniques, or cursing her way through the New York Times daily crossword puzzle. 


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14 comments

Terry

Japan Crate charged my bank on April 3rd and May 4th, but still have not receive any crate, no email or phone call regarding orders, left 2 message through website weeks ago and til now still have no reply, only email i received it’s Invoice for May, they only contact customer to pay for invoice! BAD BUSINESS

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Megan Riddles

Depending on where you live, it can take a while to get things from Japan. I left the auto draft on , but you can go remove it prior to the charge date so it doesn’t happen again. However, you should be receiving your box soon in May. It took mine about maybe four-six weeks to get to me, and it charged twice in the meantime due to when I ordered. The orders had already gone out for the previous month, so I was a little late. It was only a bit long to start this subscription, but after that I get my boxes every month. If I cancel I get the box I still paid for since I paid twice in the meantime. This also applies to shikibox since it comes from Japan to. I love both of these subscriptions, but the wait to start always makes me nervous.

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Tran

Ugh I love Sugar Candy! I used to eat those so much as a kid haha. I really need to subscribe to this box! Thanks for the awesome review.

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Rhia

I’ve been debating between this and Skosh Box, but I think I know which one I want to get now. Thanks for reviewing this!

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Vanessa

Very interesting! I would want to get at least one DIY kit so I would probably chose the $25 sub, but then that sounds like a lot to me for candy. Wait, I’m trying to avoid candy anyways. Lol.

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EC

This sub makes me nostalgic for my time living in Okinawa. I still miss the convenience of vending machines that sell everything from shoes to canned coffee. Especially the coffee. I loved my morning flavored iced coffee.

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Sara

Konpeito is my favorite! I once ordered 6 bags of it from jlist.com when my local Japanese market had been out of stock for months. I was clearly craving it hehe.

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Judy

The DIY pancake is such a supercute idea! I hope it was tasty! I want to search for it too 🙂

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Danielle

I receive this sub. I, too, was a bit wary of the Power Squash but I tried it and really liked it! 🙂

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Sandra

This looks like a lot of fun! I think I may order this 🙂

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Sara

That looks like a great box! My brother in law would love, he loves Japanese candy.

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nana

I absolutely love the pancake diy. I’m going to have to go searching for them. My 10 yo would love it!

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Tracy Manty

i got the pancake kit on amazon. it took about 3 weeks to deliver but it’s the same exact one.

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Cheri

http://www.candysan.com/product.php?id_product=1292

Change the language to english then USD. I’ve ordered from them many times. They’re awesome and prices are good.

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