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Takenoko no Sato Double Nut Cake - Japan Crate January 2020

🍫 Flavor

So I guess is the other part of the Takenoko anniversary dessert series? I’m glad I got to try both! This one is an uber specific hazlenut and pistachio chocolate cake flavor. Luckily, I’m a fan of all those flavors. Really though, this kinds of just tasted like it was nutella flavored. I’m not sure I got any hint of pistachio. I definitely liked these better than the strawberry shortcake ones because they were rich instead of sickly-sweet. Would definitely buy again.

🍫 Packaging

This package is pretty much exactly like the strawberry shortcake one. On the front of the box there’s a super delicious looking cake with hazelnuts and pistachios on top of it. There’s also pictures of the chocolates themselves and an anniversary banner. As usual, the “Takenoko” logo is written in bamboo. 

On the back of the box there are images of the other two dessert flavors: strawberry shortcake and tiramisu. I guess “Double nuts chocolate” was the secret 3rd flavor that wasn’t revealed on the previous box. Glad that mystery is solved lol. 

As usual, the takenoko come in a cute little baggy. This time it’s brown to reflect the chocolate flavor. 

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Garlic Kataage Potato Chips - Japan Crate January 2020

🍺 Flavor

Calbee collabed with Sapporo beer to bring us these delicious kettle-cooked, garlic flavored chips! Looking at the bag, I thought they would be beer battered or something but I think you’re actually just supposed to eat them with beer. I ain’t doing that. Confusing gimmick aside, I was so excited to finally try garlic flavor! I’m a garlic super-fan so I knew these would be a win for me. Some chips tasted better than others because some almost tasted burnt? Overall, I’d totally buy these again.

🍺 Packaging

This big ol’ bag took me three sittings to get through. On the front of it we have images of garlic, Sapporo beer and the chips themselves. There’s a “Limited Edition” stamp and blurbs about the collab and the texture/flavor of the chips. They’re described as crunchy and umami. 

The back of the bag has some more info about the collab specifically and why the chips go so well with beer. There’s even a photo of Calbee and Sapporo employees! 

🍺 Appearance

They look like your typical, kettle-cooked potato chips. I especially enjoyed the folded ones because they had that extra crunch.

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Fettucine Gummy Cassis Orange Flavor - Japan Crate January 2020

🍊 Flavor

Apparently, these are supposed to be “Cassis orange” flavored. I’m not really sure what that is but I guess it’s a liqueur? To me, this tasted similar to the peach gummies that Haribo puts out. Those are my fave so that’s a good thing! I think they were just the right texture (not too hard) and I appreciated that they weren’t sour (despite what the packaging says). The shape is fun too but it’s pretty weird to model a candy after pasta... 

🍊 Packaging

The gummies come in a convenient zip-loc baggy. On the front there’s a 3-layered explanation of the candy’s flavor. On the bottom we have oranges and black currants, then there’s an image of the cassis orange cocktail, and finally the pasta-like candy itself. On the top left of the front it says “al dente springiness” which cracks me up.

The back of the bag is nothing special, there’s a slightly more zoomed-in picture of the candy that’s labeled with “al dente” and “sour powder.”

🍊 Appearance

Like gummy worms but flattened and shorter. I guess it’s supposed to look like fettucine (my favorite type of pasta incidentally ;D). The color of the gummies is slightly tie-dye which is fun. I was worried they’d be really sour but they’re actually very mild.  

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Crispy Chocolate - Japan Crate January 2020 

🍫 Flavor

A delicious, puffed rice-filled, fun-sized candy bar. I think rice is my favorite chocolate bar filling because it’s light, guilt-free and has a nice crunch. This was similar to a Hershey’s Krackle bar but maybe with slightly higher quality chocolate. I could definitely eat a whole bag of these but this tiny one will have to do.

🍫 Packaging

A very basic, almost American looking package (even the mascot dino looks suspiciously Western!) In the top left corner it says “malt added.” I’ve never really understood what malt is. It’s one of those flavors that I find impossible to describe but when I eat it, it’s unmistakable. The dino mascot character is munching on the chocolate, spewing rice everywhere and at the bottom it says “Love at First Bite.” 

🍫 Appearance

It kind of looks like one of those hotel pillow mints from the front but the back shows off what’s inside:

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Japan Crate December 2019 - Final Ranking

This month’s box was pretty decent with only around 4-5 things I really didn’t enjoy. With 18 snacks in total, that’s a pretty good yum to yuck ratio. I think I’m really learning what works for me and what doesn’t. I’m really not into gum, DIY snacks, and extremely sugary or sour things. I love chips and chocolate cookie/cake-like things. Fruity things are kind of middle-ground since gummies and hard candies are very hit-or-miss. 

Here’s this month rating from “would love to eat again!” to “hard pass”:

1. Chocolate Hit Flakes  😋

2. Rich Cheese Pizza Chips

3. Christmas Black Thunder

4. Chocolate Umaibo

5. Winter Cheesecake Koala March

6. Sherbet Grape

7. Autumn Chestnut Kit Kats

8. Chocolate Waffle

9. Bears Gummy Grape

10. Awadama Apple

11. Coca-Cola Apple

12. Chameleon Candy

13. Salted Ramune

14. Nomuccho Melon Jelly

15. Mario Wii Gum

16. Soda Gum

17. Mini Bottle

18. Shigekikkusu Melon Cream Soda  🤢

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Mario Wii Gum - Japan Crate December 2019

🍬 Flavor

It’s orange gum...meh. At least it’s not soda. I feel like the texture of this wasn’t very good, I’m used to thicker gums but this was so thin and liquidy that I kept feeling like I was going to swallow it by mistake. The orange flavor was also verrry artificial. I think the company that made this gets by on gimmicky wrapping without bothering to make a quality product.

🍬 Packaging

I’m so confused. Why the heck are they releasing a Super Mario Brothers Wii themed gum in 2020. The Wii is literally two generations behind! I feel like this gum was sitting on the back of a shelf for 5 years...

🍬 Appearance

It looks like gum. Because it was white, I didn’t really know what flavor i was going to get until I popped it in my mouth. Unfortunately, I did not win a free 2nd gum...

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Nomuccho Melon Jelly - Japan Crate December 2019

🍈 Flavor

Flavor-wise, this was decent. Texture-wise I felt like I was drinking snot through a straw and, as you can imagine, that’s not ideal. I feel like DIY candies are a mistake 99% of the time. This could have been good if it was a gummy or even an already-made jelly. As a gloopy just-add-water mess, I feel like it wasn’t worth the effort. 

🍈 Packaging

A cute little square package with a melon-headed mascot on the front making the candy that we’re about to make. I actually just noticed that this character is wearing what looks like a chef’s uniform which is a nice touch.

The back of the package has some simple instructions on it for how to make the jelly. I like how they give you two separate recipes to try “syrupy” or “jiggly,” I went with jiggly because I was hoping to eat rather than drink the snack. In the end I still ended up having to drink it so maybe I would add even less water next time?

🍈 Appearance

A little cup of slime. It definitely didn’t get Jell-O solid but it still was a fun little science experiment. 

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Autumn Chestnut Kit Kats - Japan Crate December 2019

🌰 Flavor

These were good! Not mint and peach or lemon and salt good, but good. I would put them above the apple pie and sweet potato kit-kats for sure. The chestnut flavor is subtle but it’s definitely there. I’ve never actually eaten a chestnut (or a chestnut flavored sweet) so I can’t attest to how accurate the flavor is. I think it tasted a little similar to hazelnut, kind of a buttery, nutty flavor. Perfect for the Christmas season (even though it’s a fall flavor in Japan I guess). 

🌰 Packaging

The packaging for these is pretty much the same as the sweet potato ones, right down to the ad on the back. On the front we have an autumn leaf motif and photos of chestnuts & the candy. On the back there’s a blurb about the autumn flavor & sharing kit kats with friends and family (I’ve already given my family some of these).

🌰 Appearance

They look pretty similar to the sweet potato kit-kats but maybe a little darker in color. 

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A Matter of Life and Death - Film Review

Woooahhhh, this was unexpected. It feels like I've been watching nothing but film noir for months now when all the sudden this "The Good Place" x "The Wizard of Oz" x "Metropolis" mashup appears. It was like a breath of fresh air. And on top of that, color! Every scene I was like -gasp- a flower ~in color~ -gasp- a dog! ~in color~ etc. etc. I feel the end of the black and white era is coming soon. I don't really have anything against black and white, but I feel like color can at least give me more to look at in the slower, more hard-to-get-through flicks.

Not only was this film a treat to look at (amazing set design & experimental shots) but it was also very cleverly written, both plot-wise and dialogue-wise (I especially liked the talks between Peter and Conductor 71). I guess, according to my book, it was written as a propaganda film and, yeah, in retrospect that's pretty clear. I'd say this is about the least offensive propaganda can get, so I'll let it slide.

As far as negatives go, the film definitely had some awkward, clunky parts. My main complaints are: the ridiculous insta-love, the cheesy "power of love" deus ex machina moments, and the horrible soundtrack. I really hated the background music of heaven, it was just super ear grating. I think it was supposed to make you uncomfortable but it was just annoying to me. Also, I gotta say it, what was up with that random naked boy chilling with the goats?? I guess it was more common for kids to run around naked back in the day but that was really jarring. Oh well, most of my complaints with this film are nitpicks, it was a fun ride!

4 out of 5 stars

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Soda Gum - Japan Crate December 2019

🍬 Flavor

More generic gum, hurray! I was annoyed by this because not only did I suffer through more gum but this gum was like 5 times bigger than your average stick of gum. Bleh. On top of its unwanted largeness it’s also the most boring flavor known to man: “soda.” No thanks.

🍬 Packaging

Why is the font on the front of this package cloudy? Is it supposed to be the gas from the soda? I don’t get it. It’s also funny how the cartoon soda on the front is blue. If you picture actual soda, it usually comes in real flavors like orange, grape, or lemon-lime, there’s no such thing as “soda” flavor.

🍬 Appearance

A bunch of sticks of pale blue gum. I think these were supposed to come as one giant stick but, alas, they fell apart in-transit. It was kind of satisfying to break off pieces bit-by-bit during my work day. If only chewing on them was just as satisfying :/

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Christmas Black Thunder - Japan Crate December 2019

🍫 Flavor

These are soooo good. They remind me of a cross between a Twix bar and those chocolate/shortbread girl scout cookies. According the guide, they’re a mix of chocolate, cookies, and rice puffs, a combination for success in my book. They kinda have nothing to do with Xmas other than the wrapping but that’s okay. I’d buy these again.

🍫 Packaging

As always with the big bags, there’s a lot going on here. The front of the bag has a funny looking Santa with a reindeer and a snowman. The candy itself is depicted as popping out of a wrapped Christmas present. At the top of the bag there’s a bear mascot bragging that each candy bar has a quiz on it and that there are 6 different wrapper designs. Sounds good to me!

The back of the outer bag has a link to the campaign site, Instagram, and photos of special recipes you can make with the candy. I’ve actually thought it’d be a fun blog idea to make “back of the box” recipes and review them. Maybe someday...

The unique designs of the candy bars have the mascot characters posed in various Christmassy positions with props. There’s a quiz on the back of each that asks basic questions about the illustrations. It’s very easy to just cheat and look at the picture to get the answer...

🍫 Appearance

A nice, lumpy chocolate bar. I kind of looks like a Reese’s Nutrageous bar. (Those used to be my favorite). These are a nice, small after-dinner treat. 

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Coca-Cola Apple - Japan Crate December 2019

🍎 Flavor

I reeeally tried to taste apple in this but it just tasted like plain Coke to me. This was very similar to the pineapple Pepsi I drank recently, but that one at least had a slightly pineapple aftertaste. I guess Cola is just a very overpowering flavor? In a way, I was relieved it didn’t taste gross but at the same time I wish it wasn’t so unmemorable. 

🍎 Packaging

A pretty basic design that makes it look like the apple on the wrapper is being dunked in Cola. It’s so generic that it makes me wonder if there are other flavors for sale right now...

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Mini Bottle - Japan Crate December 2019

🍬 Flavor

So...unfortunately I had to throw this out because I found a dead bug in it...yikes. Luckily, I didn’t mind throwing it out because the tiny bit I ate was pretty gross. This is basically just straight-up powdered sugar. Way too sweet for me. I’d probably like it if I was 8 years old.

🍬 Packaging

The packaging is adorable, I gotta admit. Whenever I got bottle-shaped candy as a kid I would try and drink water out of it when I was done with the candy. I just got a kick out of drinking out of miniature things for some reason. 

I’m really digging the pastel colors and the Sanrio-esque penguin on the bottle. The dots and stars under the word “cider” give you the impression that the candy will be fizzy. (It only kind of was).

🍬 Appearance

Now that I’m looking at it, it kind of looks like drugs. Either that, or Styrofoam. Not super appetizing. The dead bug is not pictured but it stood out against the white pretty blatantly...

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Bears Gummy Grape - Japan Crate December 2019

🍇 Flavor

This was delicious but soooo tiny. I could probably eat a whole bag of these. It was basically just a quality grape flavored fruit snack shaped like a cute bear. I was worried it was going to be another packaged jelly that leaks all over the place but this one wasn’t swimming in juices, thankfully.

🍇 Packaging

As with most things I get in Japan Crate, the packaging is the charm point here. The bear mold was slightly smooshed but that’s to be expected. The gummy was a little bit hard to get out of its container, I had to peel it out with my fingernails.

The front of the container has a really cute bear mascot on it munching away on a gummy (”muku muku”). There’s a rainbow behind him and the overall aesthetic is very pastel-soft. Nice.

🍇 Appearance

My blurry photo doesn’t really do it justice, but the gummy holds the bear shape very well. I just this is like the head-only version of a gummy bear, huh?

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Awadama Apple - Japan Crate December 2019

🍎 Flavor

A generic, apple-flavored hard candy. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it I suppose. It felt kind of weird eating this because it’s basically just a lollipop without a stem (same shape and everything). Hey, I guess it’s less wasteful this way.

🍎 Packaging 

Cute little pouch with a pop art style apple on the front. I’m not sure why it says “red” on the front. Is that to distinguish it from green apples? Do green apple candies taste different than red apple candies?

🍎 Appearance

A reddish, pinkish, decapitated lollipop. I did end up crunching on it a little at the end.

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Chameleon Candy - Japan Crate December 2019

🍬 Flavor

These were really fun. I usually don’t end up liking the gimmicky candies but this one was really clever. Basically each hard candy starts out with a cola flavor but once you suck away the outer coating, there’s a surprise flavor inside. These flavors were: strawberry, lemon, green apple, and grape. The candy had the same texture of a lollipop but maybe a little smoother. It was too hard to bite so I just sucked on each one until they dissolved. These seem like they’d be really fun to share with friends.

🍬 Packaging

Alongside the “changing flavors” gimmick, they also threw in a fun fortune telling gimmick similar to mood rings. What flavor you get determines your level of happiness from “very happy” (strawberry) to “happiness is far away” (grape). While this is fun, it’s kind of a weird concept if you’re eating the whole bag alone like I did. Even the bag suggests playing with a friend. My bag ended up having only one grape so it seems like the bad luck ones are rarer.

Other than the fortune telling instructions, the bag has a cute chameleon mascot on it that’s examining one of the candies with a magnifying glass. There’s a little diagram showing off the outer cola layer and the surprised core.

🍬 Appearance

These were very shiny and smooth, like marbles. I had to hold them in my hand to get a photo because they were rolling all over the place. As you can see, they’re all brown on the outside so you don’t know what flavor you’re going to get until you eat one.

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Choco Flake - Japan Crate December 2019

🍫 Flavor

This was so goood! Kind of a weird presentation, the little cakes look like rice cakes but chocolate. We definitely don’t have anything like this in America. The flavor is very rich but the real star of the show is the texture. Satisfyingly crunchy and creamy at the same time. The size of each cake is also just right for bite-sized enjoyment. I’d buy this again

🍫 Packaging

What a fun, colorful package. Purely by coincidence, I managed to pick a backdrop that really make those colors pop (love the teal!) The front of the package suggests an explosion for some reason. I don’t really see the connection if I’m honest. The colors are psychedelic and there’s a sunglasses and thumbs up emoji chilling on the right. As usual, there’s photo-accurate depictions of the actual snack right there on the bag.

🍫 Appearance

The little cakes are very interesting to look at. They’re kind of like if rice crispy treats were made out of corn flakes instead. The managed to keep their shape with very little crumbs coming out of the bag.