If you have been following our blog posts, you may know that the 2017’s Japan trip was an extended holiday from Mr. J’s business trip while I was left alone in Malaysia! But, Mr. J did made up for it by bringing back 95% of the Japanese products in my wish list.
Let’s check out the number of items that Mr. J brought back from Japan! Some of these items were actually souvenirs given by his Japanese colleagues while some are souvenirs bought for family and friends.
In all my travels, it has been a habit for me to come out with a “Souvenir List”. Most importantly, this souvenir list is not really meant for my friends and family but is mostly meant for myself (not even for Mr. J at times). 😈 So, if you are unsure about what to buy from Japan, I hope this list could provide you some ideas and you can hunt for them when you are there!
First of all, let’s start with matcha! Everyone knows that Japan is famous for their matcha (green tea) products unless you have been living under a rock. When we think of Japanese food (take away sushi and ramen for now), we will surely think of matcha products. Being so famous with it, Japan has a wide range of matcha related food such as sweets, cakes, chocolates, etc.
Honestly speaking, I am a hardcore matcha lover. I prefer matcha products with a strong matcha flavor, a bit of bitter aftertaste, and less sweet milky taste.
The top row of the photo are matcha sweets bought at Daiso. Nothing surprised me as the taste was just average for me. I have tried something better than this but sadly, I couldn’t recall the brand.
For the second row, they are mainly matcha tea bags/powders and latte powder. Generally, all of them are nice but I strongly recommend the 3rd, 5th and 6th product (from left to right). The prices of these items are between JPY200 to JPY400 each.
For the packaging with a white rabbit, Mr. J purposely search for it due to my love of matcha products. It is a cake similar to the famous Tokyo banana but this is actually the matcha version of it which comes with Adzuki bean filling! I love it so much especially the light matcha aroma and taste with not too sweet filling!
The packaging written Garden Necklace Yokohama is a cake that has skin similar to the Chinese mooncake. The filling tasted like lotus paste with matcha flavor. According to Mr. J, it is a limited edition product (in conjunction with the 33rd National Urban Greenery Fair Yokohama or Garden Necklace Yokohama 2017). This cake also comes in its original flavor (which Mr. J received as a souvenir from his Japanese colleague) but I personally don’t really like either of them.
Moving from my favorite matcha products, Mr. J also brought 6 packets of Japanese curry sauces. Those in the bottom row are now available in Malaysia either in Aeon or Isetan.
Nevertheless, it was definitely cheaper to get it from Japan! However, the must buy curry sauce would be the pork curry from Coco Ichibanya Japan because you can only get it there and it is super delicious!
What do you think about my version of Japanese Curry Rice with Pork Cutlet?
Next, my favorite Japanese snacks – Jagabee and Potato Farm. Other than the usual flavors, there are also a few seasonal editions. Both of us love snacks so much that we felt all the flavors are equally yummy but what the one which stands out the most would be the honey butter garlic flavor!
A piece of advice, don't buy the cylindrical-shaped fries instead go for the block-shaped fries. We found that the cylindrical-shaped ones are very hard while the square-shaped ones have better texture.
Since I didn’t get to try the popular Ichiran Ramen, I requested Mr. J to buy the packed instant version of it. Other than Ichiran, he decided to buy some other brands as well.
Among the UFO noodles, Ippudo ramen (the one with two of them) and Ichiran ramen (the one with its individual photo), the better one is definitely Ichiran’s. However, the best ramen will still be the “fresh” ones from Japan because the noodle texture will surely taste better. Also, there aren’t any ingredients like eggs and seaweed in these instant versions. Only Ippudo's instant ramen comes with a slice of pork.
Mr. J also brought two different flavors of the famous Belgian waffles in Japan, Manneken. Personally, I felt that the taste is just average and I will definitely prefer a freshly made waffle just like everyone else. Mr. J did stated that the freshly made Manneken waffles in Japan tasted a lot better!
Oh ya! Japan can also make Kit Kat lovers go crazy because it has the most flavors in the world (we believe so). Since we have actually tried some flavors previously, Mr. J only bought the new flavors and those we haven’t eat before such as sake, almond & berries, etc. The only exception among the flavors that we have eaten is Matcha. How can I missed out on my favorite Matcha?!
I would like to share something extra about the Kit Kat’s matcha flavor. If you prefer stronger matcha flavor with bitter aftertaste, go for the one printed with the word Kyoto and limited edition. That is because the normal light green packaging has a milkier taste of matcha flavor.
Other than Kit Kat, Orihiro Konjac Jelly is also one of the must buy item in my Japan wishlist. If you have been to Jiufen in Taiwan, you might have tried something similar. This Japanese version comes in many different fruit flavours such as lychee, apple, mango, peach, grapes and more which is exactly the same as the Taiwanese version. In addition, this Konjac jelly is not like any normal jelly as it has some health benefits such as constipation prevention (rich in fibre), weight losing, etc. Mr. J only bought a few packets of it and we finished it within a few days! It was just too yummy. We recently saw it in Aeon Supermarket in Malaysia but the price is almost twice the price in Japan.
Mr. J also bought the Japanese traditional snack, senbei (rice cracker). Surprisingly, there have many flavors such as salty, seaweed, wasabi, spicy, etc. The taste is alright but unfortunately the texture is too hard to my liking.
Not forgetting the Asahi's Mintia sweets which are refreshing yet nice to eat. If you love mint sweets such as Mentos, Eclipse or Halls, you will definitely love this. These mint sweets can easily be found in any supermarkets or convenience stores and they come in a variety of flavors. All the flavors that we have tried tasted quite good. The only drawback is the size of the sweet which is really small that you will probably dissolve it in your mouth within a short time.
Lastly, here comes the eye mask, supplements, lip balm, hair oil, enzyme, etc. Nowadays, there are just too many good quality health products from Japan. Prior to Mr. J’s trip to Japan, I did some research and decided to get these to try.
Till now, I have not tried all the products from the above photo. But, some of the products like the foot patches (green color only), eye masks, enzyme pills, lip balm and Roihi Tsuboko medicated pain relief patches worked really well for me but not all of them worked well for Mr. J. I strongly believe the health products have different effects on different people. My body is usually in need of items with detox effect and body ache curing. Sometimes, I need to use the eye mask to relieve the stress in my eyes or to have a better rest when my eyes are feeling tired. I would not use it for about 15 minutes which I personally think it might be too long for the eyes. Maybe, a short 5 minutes is more than enough to rest the eyes. As for the Japanese enzyme pills, the one on the left seem to be more effective compared to the other one. Hence, I would strongly recommend buying the one on the left.
These health products were bought in one of the following places; Daiso, Aeon, Matsumoto Kiyoshi, OS Drug and Narita Airport. Make sure to follow the stores via the communication app, Line, to get the latest promotion and discount. Of course, Mr. J also bought a box of Tokyo Banana and some Royce's Nama chocolates (which are also my favorites!) *I just have too many favorite items from Japan, gonna bring the whole Japan back Malaysia one day!*
If you would like to know where Mr. J went in Tokyo and Yokohama as well as what he had eaten there such as the heavenly delicious sushi and ramen, you can read his Tokyo adventures here, here, here, here and his Yokohama adventures here.
We would love to hear from you especially if you have comments to improve our blog. We freely welcome everyone for any questions and feedback! Your support will boost our confidence and writing to be a better blogger. 😄
Really very informative and the way you present your information attracts visitors to read a more informative blog from your website. Find the best buying from japan.
ReplyDeleteHey guys this is Deepthi, I am your admission counselor for Japanese universities.Types of food in Japan In today’s video, we will be discussing a very interesting topic, and that is Japanese cuisine. Japanese cuisine has been rapidly increasing in popularity around the world, mainly due to the frequent representation of sushi and ramen noodles in the mainstream media.
ReplyDelete