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If you haven’t heard of or tried ramune candy before, you’re missing out on a whole category of Japanese candy that’s a favorite for many. This popular Japanese candy can be found pretty much everywhere they sell food items in the country, you can usually find them in the aisle that has all the Japanese...

Japan is a country well-known for its weird and wonderful cuisine. From traditional Japanese dishes like fermented soy bean natto and salty-spicy pollock roe mentaiko, to modern snacks like cough drop flavored Kit Kats and horse meat ice cream—Japan is a wonderland for adventurous diners looking to challenge their taste buds. But Japanese food isn’t...

Matcha is a type of finely ground powder that is made from specially grown green tea leaves. It has such a distinct flavor to it that’s easy to love, and in fact, this love for matcha has spread from Japan to the rest of the world. Matcha has proven to be such a versatile ingredient,...

In 2014, Nestlé capitalized on this success by opening the first Kit Kat (or KitKat) Chocolatory: a boutique Kit Kat store offering a range of special edition products.

When it comes to gifts, there is nothing more uniquely Japanese than classic omiyage. Omiyage, a word literally meaning “local product,” is a box of individually wrapped local snacks that Japanese people give their friends and colleagues after returning from a trip. In the West, this might seem like a nice gesture, but in Japan,...

You might already know the Japanese word wagashi, but what about dagashi? While wagashi describes high-end Japanese sweets, dagashi is the exact opposite: small, cheap, dime-a-dozen style snacks and candy. Why do these two words sound so similar? Although they’re both formed from the word for candy, kashi (菓子), wagashi gets the 和 prefix, meaning...