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Weird Snacks from Japanese Convenience Stores


By Japan Travel - Posted on 08 December 2008

Japanese convenience stores offer a wide variety of meals and snacks. Here are a few of the unfamiliar items I found in Japanese convenience stores.

Spicy Noodles with Mayonnaise

One of the first snacks or meals I got at a convenience store in Naha was these spicy noodles.

The white stuff on top is mayonnaise, and the thing under the mayo was some kind of pancake made out of corn.

japanese-spicy-noodles-mayo.jpg

Japanese hot noodles, with mayo

Pancake in a Bag

There are a lot of pancake products sold in plastic bags. This one looks like a regular American pancake...

Pancake in a bag, Japan

...except that it's filled with red beans and whipped cream:

Pancake with adzuki beans and whipped cream inside

Waffle Chocolate

"Waffle chocolate" is a room-temperature waffle with chocolate on one side:

waffle-chocolate-japan.jpg

Whole Crabs

Here is a container of mini crabs:

mini crab snacks

You eat them whole, like potato chips. They aren't bad, but the smell is very fishy. I was told you are supposed to eat them while drinking hard liquor.

crab-snack.jpg

Dried Squid

There are many kinds of dried squid snacks. Whole squids are popular:

whole dried squid in Japan

My favorite is the shredded kind:

Shredded dried squid from Japan

Minnows and Nuts

Here are some whole dried fish with crunchy fried things:

Minnows snack

Taco Sushi

Sushi with taco filling (ground beef, processed cheese, lettuce) is popular in Okinawa:

Taco rice sushi

Oden

If you want to eat cheap in Japan, look for oden in convenience stores and supermarkets. The oden in the photo contains daikon radish, konyaku noodles, and fried tofu. Oden is eaten with spicy mustard.

Oden, Japan

Turtle Shell Sembei

Crunchy, tasty fried snack — turtle shell sembei:

(NOTE: These aren't made out of turtles, don't worry! It's flour.)

japan-turtle.jpg

turtle-shell-japan.jpg

Deep Fried Quail Eggs

These are tiny deep fried quails' eggs:

Deep fried quail eggs

Here's a closeup of one cut in half:

Eating deep fried quail's eggs

Rice Balls (Mochi) in Caramel Sauce

Mochi is pounded sticky rice. These are mochi balls with caramel syrup — the label says mitarashi dango:

Mochi Balls in Caramel Sauce

Raw Fish and Rice Plate

For under $5 you can get a heap of rice covered with shredded cooked egg, raw fish, raw squid, and an assortment of different fish eggs. The fish-shaped container has soy sauce in it.

raw-fish-and-rice.jpg

Ass Washing Service

The sign on the left advertises a washlet (woshuretto) — the Japanese word for bidet.

ass-washing-sign.jpg

Whats your favorite Japanese snack food?

While I was over there, my favorite snack food had to be Glico Collon. The only way I could describe them that Americans would know is they were little hollow corn pillows with a whipped cream in them (like donut filling). Very good.

Another favorite of mine was Melon soda (suntory and fanta both really good). To Americans, this is not watermelon, it is more like a honeydew taste. I think Japanese call them Muskmelons. Anyway, the taste is really good. Much better than the drink flavors we have here.

I agree melon soda is great. though it's been over a year and a half since i've had one ... mainly cuz i'm back in the US and haven't been able to find any here. unlike pocky which you can find everywhere

Actually, I've been drinking Melon Soda for about 4 years here in the US, it was one of the first Japanese snacks I got my hands on here. I first found them at Suncoast and now I live by a Japanese market that sells it. ^_^

here in u.s.a. muskmellons and honeydews not the same thing

I agree with the other commenter, I miss melon soda. It was amazing! I especially loved the colour of it.

Snack wise, I was addicted to milk bread, particularly the ones from family mart (the panda one). They are really sweet and fluffy.

The mochi and dried squid sound really good though!!

(side note: Is that DJ Ozma in the first pic???)

It is DJ Ozma! :D

Yeah I miss melon soda, particularly melon cream soda, there was only one vending machine in my area that I knew that sold it and I used to go way out of my way to go past it.
I used to like pizza man - bread type things filled with pizza type fillings they sell warm in combinis (also do niku man etc)

I have to say, I devoured the Onigiri every time I could. I don't think I could ever get enough of it. But I also liked the fried Ika and the little Gelatin Jello cups too. Japan had too much good snack food, I couldn't eat it all.

Wow, delicious...

I did so love the shredded dried squid it was great with Japanese suntory whiskey. Although I also loved the iced coffee and the Yakisoba served in bars just down form my duty station Tori Station

Please tell me those aren't real turtle shells.

I was wondering after looking at the photos if anyone would wonder if they are really turtle shells. They are not. They're just rice crackers!

Those aren't just rice crackers...they are great tasting rice crackers.

This is an excellent series of images to post here

I love japanese food soo much

I've had the Pancake in a Bag. My Japanese teacher told me that it was chocolate, but I figured out that it wasn't about half way through when I found a few beans still intact.

Not that it's weird, but, I really miss my Milk Tea, and Kimchii Ramen!!! Yum Yum!!

Oh I miss the Milk Tea too!!! I really miss the Caramel Milk Tea that I could only find in the 7/11 conbini's in my area in Saitama. :(

My favorite are Taro Mochi... or better yet, Taro Buns! Soooo good ^-^

I am living in Japan. I love dorayaki (the fried pancake things you put in). And taiyaki.

AGE AGE?

Sweetness I love Ozma.

Hi,

I am living in Japan now, and I have to agree I love Milk Tea from the vending machines.

I also can't live without Hi-Chew candy, I don't know if you can get it in USA but I love it so much.

Hi-Chew! One of my friends brought that from Japan and I was addicted. I once found them on vacation in a tea garden in San Fransisco and bought about 10 of them. Sadly, I haven't found any local places that sell them. :(

I've not been to japan before.. but i have had some of the mentioned snacks.. such as the hokaido shredded squid... love them.! and also the Hi-Chew sweets.. I went to hong kong recently and bought loads of them.. cola flavour being my fav. i have found some on ebay.. but seemed expensive so i passed... has anyone heard of calpico.? its a sweet tangy-ish tasting drink.. so nice.!

wow... your comment is from march, but i want you to know...

i see Hi-Chews all the time, 'cost plus world market' sells hi-chews and ramune in peach, melon, strawberry, orange and a few other flavors. if you don't have a CP near you (i have 3 here in my texas town) go to a china-town store, (a supermarket type thing) you can find hi-chews(usually right near check-out where gum and chips are in wallmarts) and there's an aisle for all sorts of snacks- pocky, ect.
you don't need to know an asain language to shop in an asain store! xD

Go buy banana chocolate. its a yello box and it have a monkey on the front! its the best thing I've eaten in my entire life!

The only thing unique is the turtle shell sembei, the other stuff you can get anywhere in Japan.

When my husband and I went on vacation in Tokyo, we drank these fantastic drinks from vending machines that were like pureed fruit. I don't know the names of them, but they came in pouches in different flavors, and you stuck a straw through them to puncture the pouch. They were just like pureed fruit, like banana, mango, guava, papaya. They were wonderful. But everything we ate in Tokyo was wonderful!

I like Wasabi peas & Rice crackers wrapped in Nori.
I can usually find both in the "international" section of any large supermarket.
Both can be seen in the mix, on that "Topvalu" bag of minnows & nuts. s);o)

I enjoyed the Pork or pizza filled steamed buns, the plain tuna filled Onigiri. the caramel mochi and of course the Lawson's Soy burgers and soy cheese burgers

Niku Man and Pizza Man are great on the way home after a night out!

I find the marshmellows they have in those really cute little bags (and are filled with jelly) are really good little treats. And that taco sushi looks soooooo freakin good..

I know! That taco sushi looks delicious! I want to try it.

I was stationed in Camp Hansen, near Kin Village and I REALLY miss the Taco, Rice and Cheese. I have tried to recreate at home but can do it. Does anyone have a original Japanese reciepe for this? Thank you very much.

I had that pancake thing at the cherry blossom festival in San Francisco and it was so delicious. I was actively seeking out the weirdest food they had there, and the bean-filled pancakes were a win. It also had this ridiculously long line--by far the longest line at the whole festival, so I had HIGH expectations. They didn't disappoint!

Hardly any of this food is weird.
Most of it is pretty goood.

These foods are not weird at all. I think the guy who made this page is ignorant of japanese culture.

Actually, the people who made this website are a married couple in Japan. The wife is Japanese, and her husband is English. They live in Okinawa, which is where the wife's mother and family live. So I don't think they're ignorant of the culture (especially when one side of the family IS Japanese), they just made this chose food that they decided would SEEM weird to Americans or other cultures.

I only know who made the website and about where they live because they were featured on the Travel Channel with Anthony Bourdain. It was a great episode, I wish there were more travel shows on Japan.

I remember when I first came to Japan, most all of those seemed pretty weird. Now looking at this list just made me hungry!

This is what makes me love this site This is a very interesting article. I enjoyed reading it. I need to read more on this topic.

i love collon, especially the name! melon pan is good, as well as hello panda. there was this thing that was like ice cream inside a waffleish thing, that tasted like one of those cake cones! i love japanese food!i also love mochi.

I love japanese food! Pocky is bout the only thing i get here in canada and is highly over rated compared to other japanese sweets. I mostly go to okinawa whenever I go to japan.

you are a weaboo

When I lived in Japan, most of my food came from the Lawson on the corner of my street. The one thing I loved to eat, which isn't weird, were the sandwiches. I especially likes they were wrapped where you could just pull a tab and the entire things opens up. I'd also occasionally eat the peanut butter or egg salad sandwiches. These were basically standard sandwiches with the crust removed and the ends pinched together to make a nice little pocket. What I loved the most were the drinks. They had nearly every fruit juice or fruit-flavored tea imaginable. A common drink from the vending machines was this grape and vinegar juice. It sounded ridiculous when a friend offered me one, but I was hooked after the first bite. I think the weirdest food I had in Japan was squid-ink pasta...though I have a feeling this is common in other parts of the world...not sure. Great article!

My favourite Japanese snack food has to be Takoyaki~ It's like balls of batter each with a small part of octopus inside. It needs to be made in a special pan. It's served with okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, bonito and sprinkled with a little seaweed. I think there's more but I can't really remember them right now =.=
Green Tea Ice Cream, Dango, Anmitsu and Okonomiyaki are also some of my other favourites!~



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