Hello Panda Splendor: The Amazing Flavors of a Global Favorite!

In the 1970s, Hello Panda was a snack that school children all over Japan were familiar with. Today, these cookies are no longer available in Japan but are still available everywhere else worldwide! You might have seen them in your local supermarket or Asian import grocery store. 

But why did these Japanese chocolate snacks stop being sold in Japan? Let’s find out about the mystery behind these cute panda treats!

What are Hello Panda cookies?

The Hello Panda snacks have a cookie shell with a sweet cream filling. These bite-size pandas are the perfect size to pop in your mouth, filling it with chocolatey goodness as soon as you crunch through. 

The cute depictions of giant pandas printed on them make them so cute and almost adorable to eat. Only almost. We’ll still finish off an entire box in no time!

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Although they originated as chocolate-filled snacks, Hello Panda cookies come in many more flavors than just chocolate. Today, they have all kinds of crème fillings, including caramel, strawberry, vanilla, matcha (Japanese green tea), coconut, and double chocolate.

The giant panda on the cookie does over 30 sports, including fencing, archery, snowboarding, soccer, and more! They come in tall, hexagonal boxes, perfect for carrying while keeping the cookies from getting crushed. Each big box contains 10 individual packs to make it easy to share.

Hello Panda’s History: From Japan to the World

n the summer of 1979, the Japanese chocolate and sweets manufacturer Meiji Seika, a famous brand and creator of other popular snacks like Kinoko no Yama (Mushroom Mountain), created Hello Panda. As such, Hello Panda is the oldest animal-shaped cookie brand in Japan. Although Meiji first produced and sold the cookies in Japan, they soon produced them in Meiji’s Singaporean and Indonesian factories instead.

Soon after, these Japanese chocolate panda cookies were exported around the globe. The cookies were so popular internationally that Meiji began exporting them worldwide. They are now available in stores in the following locations: the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, mainland Europe, Australia, Canada, Singapore, and Malaysia. 

At the same time, a new animal-shaped cookie cornered the market in Japan: Lotte’s Koala’s March, which initially debuted in 1984. It’s one of the best Japanese chocolate snacks, featuring a cute koala mascot. Besides having a different animal character, the major difference is that Hello Panda’s cookie is thicker, and the chocolate interior is sweeter. Hello, Panda also comes in more flavors than Koala’s March.

Why do they not sell Hello Panda cookies in Japan?

We may never know why Meiji decided to stop selling their pandas in Japan and focus on the international market instead. Perhaps the koalas pushed the pandas out of the Japanese market. Or, perhaps Hello Panda was so popular internationally that Meiji decided to focus their efforts on selling the cookies there instead.

Whatever the reason may be, for those living abroad, Meiji’s export of their panda cookies is a good thing. Now, those living in many other countries can try a tasty treat that people in Japan can no longer buy. Today, despite the success of Koala’s March in Japan,  Meiji’s Hello Panda consistently tops polls and popularity contests as a fan favorite internationally! 

Hello Panda’s Return to Japan

The American chain store Costco recently opened several branches in Japan, and they brought the Hello Panda cookies back with them! Many people in Japan have been posting on social media about these Japanese cookies that they haven’t seen in decades. For those who remembered them from their childhood in the 70s, the cookies were a nostalgic reminder. 

However, those who were slightly familiar with Koala’s March initially suspected that the cookies were just a foreign brand knock-off of Koala’s March. To their surprise, the Japanese snack company Meiji produced these cookies, and Meiji invented them years before Koala’s March.

Where can I buy Hello Panda cookies today?

If you live outside of Japan, Hello Panda cookies are available in Asian import supermarkets like Target, Costco, Unimart, and many other grocery stores, depending on your country. You can also purchase them online.

What are Hello Panda cookies made of?

The chocolate version of these cookies contains ingredients like wheat flour, vegetable shortening, sugar, chocolate liquor, whole milk powder, and salt. The cookies also contain wheat, milk, barley, whey, and soy, so anyone with these allergies may be out of luck.

Hello Panda cookies have two grams of protein and 160 calories for every 10 pieces, so they are an excellent snack for a quick energy boost, especially when you are doing sports, like the pandas on the cookies! 

Have you ever tried Meiji’s Hello Panda cookies? Are you team koala or team panda? Let us know in the comments below!