Japan Okashi Box is a monthly snack subscription service that delivers an assortment of authentic Japanese sweets and snacks handpicked by the Okashi Team!
This box was sent to us at no cost for review purposes. (Check out the review processes post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About Japan Okashi Box
The Subscription Box: Japan Okashi Box
The Cost: Okashi Box is $39.00/mo + free shipping
ACTIVE DEAL: Save 30% off your first box!
CODE: FIRSTADDICTION
The Products: 18-20 pieces of Japanese candy, sweets, and snacks
Ships to: Worldwide for free!
Good to know: A one-time purchase Sample Okashi Box is available for $19.00 containing 8-10 items.
Okashi Box March 2019 "Sakura" Review
Every box comes with a booklet of the snacks included. The Okashi team also notes the common allergens, which is helpful for subscribers as most snacks don’t include ingredient lists.
This month’s ~surprising gift~ is a set of sakura sticky notes! These notes are lovely and are perfect for the spring theme!
Here’s a nice thank-you note from the Okashi Box Team!
Shall we dig in?
Baby Star Ramen – Buy 4 bags for $3.30
I love eating raw ramen (break ramen noodles into chunks, mix powder seasoning in bag, shake it, and eat!). This snack is 10x better—it’s softer with the perfect amount of slightly salty, soy sauce seasoning. The noodles are so small because they’re individual curls and are deep fried again for a better flavor. They’re so tiny! But delicious 😊
Puku Puku Tai Chocolate – Retail Value $1.18
Ah, a subscriber favorite I’ve been seeing a lot in different Japanese snack subscription! This tai fish is a chocolatey version of the real taiyaki, a Japanese fish-shaped cake made using pancake batter in a special iron mold and filled with custard, red bean paste, or chocolate. It’s a common Japanese street snack, made hot right off the iron.
The outer shell of the snack is a crispy waffle cone. The inner filling is where the magic happens—filled with rich aerated chocolate, the filling is a light moussey texture and melts beautifully in the mouth!
Glico Super Mario Chocolate Peloty – Retail Value $2.70 (NZ$3.99)
The chocolate is a little waxy, but I could still taste the distinct strawberry, white, and milk chocolate. I liked the little lollipop handle, it made the experience cute and fun!
Kaiyu Grape Gummy – Retail Value $2.62 (£2.32)
A staple snack for Japanese subscription boxes is gummies. This resealable bag is filled with delicious juicy grape gummies made of 100% fruit juice (no artificial colors + flavors) that have collagen to keep your skin soft and glowy!
DIY Kit Nigi Sushi Gummies – Retail Value $2.24 (€1.99)
For this month’s DIY kit, we’re making gummy sushi! By pressing them onto each other, I made my own nigiri sushi, except banana, strawberry, and lemon flavored. The banana flavor reminded me of a banana Hi-Chew (yes, artificial flavors, but tasty 😉)
Poteto-Furai - Fried Chicken Flavor
These chips imitate real potato fries in a saltier, flatter, and more savory form. In addition to a nice potato flavor base, these chips use a flavor powder to give a fried chicken flavor—in fact, they taste like the crunch skin of fried chicken!
Kyabetsu Taro – Retail Value $1.30
Kaybetsu Taro is a widely popular corn snack manufactured in the Ibaraki Prefecture. The corn balls are flavored with small pieces of nori and a sauce similar to that of yakitori or okonomiyaki (a Worcestershire sauce base with sugar and mirin)—it’s like an umaibo in ball form!
Morokoshi Taro – Buy 20 bags for $22.53 (£20)
Morokoshi Taro is another popular corn snack known for its large and puffy shape. They’re soft and crunchy with a nice salty and savory flavor. I think it contains chicken extract, if my reading is correct, which I enjoyed! It tasted like chicken broth and felt a bit less salty than the previous taro snack because of the soft texture.
Morinaga Ototo Crackers – Retail Value $1.50
These crackers are the Japanese equivalent for animal crackers. The bite-sized crackers have a very savory, almost cheesy salty taste and are shaped in crabs, stars, and other various shapes! This was a really cute snack to eat with a lovely salty flavor and a slight fish flavor.
Meiji Strawberry Gummy Choc – Retail Value $3.90
Where has this snack been all my life?! These round chocolate-covered strawberry gummy pieces are so delicious (the box packaging is too adorable). The chewy gummy, which is a tart strawberry flavor, is covered in a strawberry chocolate layer, then covered once more in a rich chocolate shell. This was a really yummy snack that disappeared too fast!
KitKat - Matcha Flavor – Buy 13 mini bars for $10.00
Yes! Matcha! Japan has a couple hundreds of special KitKat flavors, ranging from different matcha strengths, sake, and famous Japanese desserts. This matcha KitKat
Black Thunder – Retail Value $0.69
Black Thunder is an iconic Japanese chocolate candy bar—once you have one, you’ll *have* to order some. It’s a dark chocolate cookie bar mixed with rice puffs and coated in a bittersweet chocolate. This bar is the best. If you imagine bits of Oreo crumbles with a thin chocolate coating, then amp it 100x, you’ll get this bar! They’re also not sweet at all, you can still taste the bitterness of dark chocolate within the snack.
Fun fact: the candy bar’s slogan is “delicious taste in a flash of lightning!” which I think is so accurate in describing this snack 😊
Glico Pretz - Salad Flavor – Buy 4 packs for $3.48
These thin sticks are powered up versions of the little uncoated ends of Pocky. The booklet didn’t specify, but I think this was the salad flavor, with a lovely ranch taste! I really enjoy this snack because it has such a nice, strong bread taste that pairs well with the flavor powder.
Umaibo - Corn Potage Flavor – Retail Value $0.50
We’re gifted with three umaibos! An umaibo is a light puffed corn snack with tasty flavor powder or syrup. Corn potage is a Japanese favorite to eat both hot or chilled. This super-rich corn soup is made with corn, onion, and heavy cream (I recommend 10/10 to make it). The umaibo has a sweet corn flavor and almost has milk powder in it that reminds me of the creaminess of corn potage.
Umaibo - Takoyaki Flavor – Retail Value $0.47
Yakitori is a delicious grilled skewered chicken typically seasoned with a soy sauce, sugar, and sake sauce mixture. This umaibo’s flavor syrup used the same yakitori sauce and also had a touch of the charred flavor which I enjoyed.
Umaibo - Takoyaki Flavor – Retail Value $0.44
Takoyaki is a ball-shaped Japanese snack made of pancake batter and cooked in a special molded iron pan. It’s typically filled with octopus bits, tempura scraps, and green onion, and served with mayonnaise and a Worcestershire and sugar sauce mixture.
Kaki No Tane Rice Crackers – Retail Value $2.99
Kaki no tane is a common side snack for beer drinks in Japan. The two parts of the snack are the crescent-shaped senbei and peanuts. There are several flavor combinations possible, such as black pepper or wasabi, but this snack has the original slight soy sauce base taste. Any saltines and extra stickiness of the rice from the senbei is washed down with the crumbly soft texture of the peanuts—it’s a nice and filling snack to eat any time.
Bakauke – Buy 40 pieces for $9.58
Bakause is a thin banana-shaped senbei with various flavors, manufactured specially in the Niigata Prefecture. This senbei uses a deep and savory soy sauce base and has nori flakes as the topping. Nori, or dried green seaweed, is a common topping in many Japanese foods—it has a slightly bitter taste and strong seaweed flavor. I enjoyed the thickness of the cracker as well as the small touch of nori flavor.
Fun fact: bakauke, in the Niigata dialect of Japanese means “extremely well received!”
Glico Almond Caramel – Retail Value $4.40 (found here for $3.08)
Best. Carmel. Ever. I’m not a fan of most caramels that are inside chocolates—but this kind of caramel, the chewy, not too sweet, beautiful buttery kind I love. And with almond slivers?? The chewiness pairs with the smooth crunches of almonds to make a delicious candy. They’re individually wrapped caramels, so I popped them in my bag for a quick sugar bite anytime!
Verdict: My favorite items in this month’s collection have to be the choco-gummy box and the almond caramels. The texture combination of the chewy, tart strawberry gummy and creamy chocolate layer was such a new taste I enjoyed, and the beautiful warm caramel taste with smooth almond bits was just so good 😊 This was my first Japan Okashi Box, and I have to say I’m impressed and can’t wait for the next one! The sheer number of snacks in this month’s assortment is amazing, and it’s a well-blended mix of sweet and savory snacks. It’s essentially a taste of Japanese convenience stores and their amazing range of delicious snacks.
I estimated a retail value of around $30, which is under the $39 a month box costs, which includes free shipping. I consider the experience of the curation as well as free shipping from Japan part of the cost, but that is just my personal opinion!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Unfortunately, no. Order now and receive May’s box in a few weeks! From Japan Okashi Box:
Your first box ships within a week and arrives in about 2 weeks after shipping from Japan. Order by the last day of the month to get the next month's box!
ACTIVE DEAL: Save 30% off your first box!
CODE: FIRSTADDICTION
Value Breakdown: This box costs $39.00 + free shipping, which means that each of the 20 items in the box has an average cost of $1.95.
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What do you think of Japan Okashi Box’s assortment? What would you have enjoyed?
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