Japanese Chocolate: The 10 Most Famous Brands!

It’s no secret that some of the best chocolate sweets come from Japan. You might have tasted chocolates from all these brands if you’re a huge chocolate fan! Here are the top 10 Japanese chocolate brands in the country!

Lotte

Lotte is well known for its Choco Pies, a chocolate-covered cake with a fluffy marshmallow filling. They also produce Toppo, a chocolate-filled biscuit stick snack. Toppo is like a reverse Pocky, with the chocolate on the inside and the biscuit on the outside! Lotte’s Ghana chocolate bars are great too. They’re delicious, made with high-quality cacao beans, and only cost 100 yen (about 1 USD).

Nestle Japan

While Nestle as a whole is a brand from Switzerland, we have to mention the company’s Japan branch, which turned Japanese Kit Kats into a global phenomenon. Nowadays, there are so many amazing and strange Japanese Kit Kat flavors for people to explore and enjoy.

If you love Japanese chocolates, you’ll love TokyoTreat’s monthly subscription box, which sends you all kinds of delicious Japanese snacks and sweets to try every month!

Meiji

Meiji’s most well-known snacks in Japan include chocolate-covered nuts, including chocolate hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, and peanuts. They are also the producers of the two forest-themed “Kinoko no Yama” (mushroom of the mountain), and “Takenoko no Sato” (bamboo shoot village).

As their names suggest, one snack is a mushroom-shaped cookie with a chocolate cap, while the other is a cookie shaped like a bamboo shoot dipped in chocolate. The two snacks’ similarities and differences have sparked a viral internet debate about which is best, mushroom or bamboo!

Ezaki Glico

Ezaki Glico is a Japanese food company based in Osaka. Its logo, called the Glico Running Man, is even a famous Osaka landmark. The logo is projected on a giant neon sign which hangs over the Dotonbori canal. Glico is famous worldwide for its many inventive Pocky flavors, but it also makes a type of chocolate you might not have heard of before. 

Glico’s GABA is a chocolate enriched with 28 milligrams of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in every 10 grams of chocolate. GABA is a neurotransmitter that plays an important part in reducing stress in the human brain, so eating this chocolate is supposed to reduce stress. Then again, if you’re a chocolate lover, delicious chocolate probably always reduces stress!

Fujiya

The company’s Country Ma’am Cookies are Japan’s number one best-selling snack. The cookie’s popularity is due to a unique baking process that results in a crispy exterior and moist interior. Their most popular range of chocolates are called “Look.”

These chocolates have many different flavored fillings, ranging from fruit to cheesecake! Fujiya is also the producer of the Milky array of candies, cookies, and chocolates, which are decorated with an adorable girl mascot named Peko-chan.

Morinaga

Morinaga is one of the largest Japanese candy producers. This brand has been producing chocolate in Japan for over 100 years. Their staple chocolates are called Dars and come in milk, dark, white, strawberry, and other limited-edition flavors. They produce Other popular sweets Choco Flakes (corn flakes coated in chocolate) and Choco Balls (chocolate balls filled with caramel, peanuts, biscuits, and many more). 

Outside of Japan, the brand is well-known for its Hi-Chew candy brand. These chewy candies come in many flavors, including special regional flavors for Japan’s prefectures, like Okinawa’s shikuwasa citrus.

Yuraku Seika

The Black Thunder candy bar is this brand’s most well-known offering. The bar is named Black Thunder after the Japanese god of thunder, Raijin. It is made of a layer of crunchy cookie coated in black chocolate. In Japan, you’re more likely to spot this candy bar in stores, than you are a Snickers or Twix. 

Tirol

Tirol sells tiny squares of chocolate in individual packages, usually found near the registers of Japanese convenience stores. These little chocolate squares are perfect for a quick, sweet snack when you don’t want to purchase an entire bag. They come in varied and constantly changing seasonal flavors, including sakura mochi (which has mochi inside the chocolate), amazake (a sweet Japanese fermented rice drink), and many more!

Bourbon

While it shares the name with a type of alcohol, Bourbon is actually a Japanese company that produces chocolate and other sweets. The company is best known for its Alfort biscuits (layered with chocolate), sour-sweet Fettuccine gummies, and Petit biscuits.

It is also the producer of the French-inspired Rumando, or Lumonde, which are light, crispy cookie sticks enveloped in milk chocolate. These cookie sticks were so popular that they have been sold in Japanese stores for over 40 years.

Royce

Royce originated in Sapporo, Japan’s northernmost island, Hokkaido. Hokkaido prefecture is famous for its high-quality dairy products. Because of the freshness of the brand’s ingredients, the Nama (fresh) chocolates are one of their most popular. These chocolates are made with locally-sourced, fresh cream and have a soft, ganache-like texture. Their green tea chocolates and chocolate-dipped, salty potato chips are also sold in 14 countries worldwide.

Why is Japanese chocolate so delicious?

Many people believe that Japanese chocolate is delicious because of the unique blend of high-quality ingredients, such as premium cocoa beans and fresh milk sourced from local farms. Japanese chocolatiers also prioritize aesthetics, ensuring their products look as beautiful as they taste!

In addition, many Japanese chocolate makers are strongly committed to innovation, constantly experimenting with new flavors and textures to create unique and delicious chocolates that stand out. The attention to detail and dedication to quality sets Japanese chocolate apart! Have you ever had Japanese chocolate before? Let us know in the comments below!