Japan Candy Box is filled with hand-picked unique Japanese sweets and snacks related to a monthly theme. Each box includes 10 delicious and fun Japanese candies and snacks.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About Japan Candy Box
The Subscription Box: Japan Candy Box
The Cost: $19.90 a month + free shipping
BLACK FRIDAY DEAL: For a limited time, use coupon code BFDEAL and get $10 OFF your first box with a 6-month or 12-month plan.
The Products: 10 curated snacks around a monthly theme; includes DIY kits, dagashi, limited edition flavors, and traditional snacks
Ships to: Worldwide for free!
Japan Candy Box "Thanksgiving Feast" Review
Let’s start with the word of the month-- しちめんちょ which means turkey! (I actually had to look this one up, I’m more familiar with 七面鳥)
The word is perfect for this month’s autumn flavors of Thanksgiving!
The box comes with an illustrated info sheet that classifies snacks as traditional, dagashi, kawaii, limited-edition, or seasonal and gives a short blurb of about them.
Kanro Pure Gummy- Mixed Berry Flavor - Retail Value $3.20 (found here for $2.20)
These Puré gummies come in various flavors such as lemon or grape, but this month's flavor was mixed berries - with collagen and Vitamin C benefits. As an avid lover of sour candies, I was happy to find these; however, beware! If you eat too many at the same time, the artificial berry flavor + Vitamin C taste isn't very pleasant. Thankfully, these cute heart-shaped gummies come in a resealable Ziploc-style bag!
Calbee Jagabee Osatsubee Sweet Potato Snack - Retail Value $3.30 (found here for $2.20)
Did you know Jagabee describes Calbee’s line of Japanese potato-based snacks? The Osatsubee line is made of sweet potato. These chips are shaped like real French fries and made from pure sweet potato, rich in dietary fiber. Though they were quite dense in oil, I loved the subtle sweetness that reminded me of real sweet potato fries. (Also resealable!)
Bonchi Ponsuke Arare Crackers - Retail Value $3.20 (found here for $2.00)
Arare snacks are very traditional Japanese style rice crackers made from glutinous rice and flavored with soy sauce. They are named after their shape, hailstone (arare) and are small in size but quite flavorful. I’m a huge fan of rice crackers and loved the slight kick of sesame oil and salty (but almost sweet??) flavor of soy sauce!
Meiji Gochi Sour Plum Gummy - Retail Value $2.80 (found here for $1.80)
Ooh, these are a special edition flavor! These gummies, which come in a resealable bag, contain 3500mg of collagen and capture the tartness of the Japanese plum (ume). The collagen made the gummies quite the unique texture when chewing. They were almost hard, and I enjoyed the crunch of the coarse, granulated sugar coating. The taste was a mixture of salty and sour, with floral plum notes... I'm not sure I liked the flavor as much as the texture.
KitKat Chocolatory Cranberry Almond Chocolate Flavor - Buy 12 mini bars for $9.50
Another limited-edition flavor-- one of the over 350 Japanese flavors of KitKat! This minibar came with bits of cranberry and almonds sprinkled on the top of the original wafer dark chocolate part. I loved both the luxurious visual and the taste—the package even says it is an “everyday luxury gift!”
Osatsu Doki Sweet Potato Chips- Apple Pie Flavor - Retail Value $3.50 (found here for $2.40)
These sweet potato chips are thicker than your average chip—but holds twice as much savory and sweet flavor punch! There isn’t much of an apple pie flavor, though there is a nice sweet, sugary flavor that is nice to have with a sweet potato base. I was surprised I enjoyed these so much!
Pine Sherbet Pero Lollipop- Cola Flavor - Retail Value $1.90
This candy reminded me of an old childhood Valentine's day candy - Fun Dip! The two are similar in concept; however, the Japanese version powder was fizzy, like a soda, and gave a sour cola-like flavor (though the booklet said sherbet).
The lollipop was a sweet cola flavor, and it was fun to dip the candy into the powder and feel the sour fizz!
Gudetama White Chocolate Bar - Retail Value $1.40 (found here for $1.00)
I think everyone has an inner Gudetama and will love the cute packaging (hence the label as a kawaii snack!) This candy bar is a crispy wafer surrounded in dark chocolate, then a final layer of white chocolate. While the idea sounded tasty, the flavor reminded me of a waxy/cheap chocolate that didn't have much flavor at all.
Bourbon Bit Chocolate Crunch - Retail Value $1.20 (found here for $1.00)
This bite-size chocolate snack was delicious with crunchy almond and corn puff bits! I do wish there were 2-3 of these packed in the box - they were too tasty!
Coris Plum Chewy Candy - Retail Value $1.20 (found here for $1.00)
I was a teensy bit reluctant to try this candy when I read umeboshi (Japanese pickled plum) on the packaging. It's a very salty and sour taste. At first, I thought this candy would be gum, as the packaging said chewy candy. After chewing vigorously, I was surprised to find the candy had mostly melted away. The candy has an interesting hole and is supposed to be filled with air to give it a boost of chewiness and had "various flavors layered inside". Not sure if I could tell the difference, though.
The Verdict: I enjoyed most of the snack selections in this month’s autumn box. I don’t think the plum snacks were my favorite, but I did love those soy sauce arare rice crackers! The subscription service did a very good job pairing different snacks to fit the autumn theme.
To Wrap Up:
Can you get this box if you sign up today? You must order by the last day of the month to receive the following month’s box. Subscribe today to receive the December curation. Check out theme spoilers here!
BLACK FRIDAY DEAL: For a limited time, use coupon code BFDEAL and get $10 OFF your first box with a 6-month or 12-month plan.
Value Breakdown: This box costs $19.90 + free shipping, which means that each of the 10 items in the box has an average cost of $1.99. It’s a fair value for some items, but for small items, such as the dagashi plum chews or the chocolate, it’s a bit high.
Check out all of our Japan Candy Box reviews and the Food Subscription Box Directory!
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What do you think of Japan Candy Box's autumn welcome? How was your Thanksgiving?
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