Bizarre Japanese Candy

If you thought the food in Japan was a bit strange, have you ever seen Japanese candy? Not everything is sweet or made of chocolate and sometimes the things made of chocolate are very surprising. Say what you will about Japanese cuisine, but they are extremely adventurous when it comes to new flavors, especially in candy. Whether you like your candy sweet, chocolaty, sour, or maybe even a bit savory there's a Japanese candy out there that you've got to try. (We'll be honest, there's plenty to avoid too). Take a look at this sampling of Bizarre Japanese Candy and decide for yourself what sounds delicious or disgusting.

Pocky

If you've had Japanese candy you've had classic chocolate Pocky, but have you ever tried Men's Pocky or Black Sesame Pocky? There are countless flavors that range from sweet to savory.

Gummy Collagen Candy

Apparently in Japan you don't pump collagen into your face... you eat it.

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Shigekix Super Cola

Everything from the weird packaging to the flavor is just so strangely Japanese. Shigekix Super Cola candy combines extremely sour lemony flavor with a salty flavor that guarantees to make your mouth pucker up like that weird cartoon cat creature on the cover.

Pickle EX Lemon Milk

There's nothing about these flavors that makes sense together. Wouldn't lemon milk go sour?

Squid Candy

We don't know much about squid candy, but we've been told "beware of the oozing juice."

Sweet Corn + Soy Sauce Drops

For some reason Japanese candies are as likely to be savory as they are sweet, like this Yaki Toukibi Sweet Corn and Soy Sauce snack.

Dew Dew Mix

There's nothing all that weird about fruit hard candy, but we can't stop giggling at the name long enough to try it.

Hello Kitty Collon Candy

Did Collon candies really need to be branded with Hello Kitty? This is kind of upsetting.

Aha! Brain Candies

Extremely sour energy candies that are also known as Pacman's acid trip.

Smart Time Chocolate Gum

Freshen your breath with the refreshing flavor of... chocolate?

Scallop Candy

Oh come on. Are you even surprised after Squid Candy? Candy scallops prepared in sweet sauce and individually wrapped.

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Chili Powder and Green Tea Kit Kats

Move over Pocky, Japan has a new favorite chocolate stick treat. Kit Kats are a big hit in Japan and as a result there are now bizarre flavors like Green Tea and Chili Powder.

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Comments (8 Responses)

dragonmamma/naomiJanuary 13th, 2010 at 1:00 pm

Those new flavors of Kit-Kats actually sound good to me! I definitely want to give those a try.

When I was a little kid (I’m 51 now) our neighborhood ice-cream truck used to sell little boxes of Japanese candy. They were jelly-like cubes wrapped in an edible rice-paper that dissolved on your tongue when you sucked on it.
TemmaJanuary 13th, 2010 at 2:36 pm

I think that these are the candies you had as a kid, or something similar: Botan Rice Candy. They’re pretty fun to eat!
JJanuary 13th, 2010 at 3:26 pm

@Temma I think what she’s referring to are the jelly fruit-cubes that are wrapped in edible rice paper, and not Botan rice candy.

I’m supportive of people writing about how interesting Japanese culture is, but I wish people didn’t make assumptions like in this article. Japan, like anywhere else, when you think “candy”, you think sweet. Not savory.

Things like the “squid candy” or “scallop candy” are considered snacks, because they’re not candy. Corn/soysauce flavor candy is considered a novelty item. US has things like this, too.

Chocolate gum is not much different from all the crazy sweet, non-minty flavors in the West. Also, why is “lemon milk” so weird? Have you never had lemon cake or keylime pie?

In my opinion, US has far more strange candies than Japan does. And a lot of them are mainstream, too. With Japan, a lot of articles like this write about novelties as if they’re normal….
bcJanuary 13th, 2010 at 3:30 pm

I’ve tried the Green Tea Kit Kats; they’re way tasty. And I’ll definitely look for Aha! Brain on the next trip.
knitratJanuary 13th, 2010 at 3:37 pm

I was once in polite company in South Korea and accepted a candy, which the nice lady told me was cheese flavor just as it hit my tongue. oh the horror. there was no spitting it out right in front of her.
gnateyeJanuary 13th, 2010 at 5:11 pm

Pocky are the best! doesn’t matter what flovor they rock!

and the green tea kit kats are amazing, they are really hard to find no tho…

and the classic first japanese candy for most americans is the ol Botan rice candy with edible wrapper, soooo good.

we’ve also found some good graham cracker and chocolate mushroom shaped candies that are great as well
dragonmamma/naomiJanuary 13th, 2010 at 6:04 pm

Temma, yes, that’s it! I can’t believe it; the box still looks exactly the same after all these years.
KrupoJanuary 14th, 2010 at 7:37 pm

At a Hong Kong 7/11 I managed to pick up Ginger Ale flavour Kit Kat imported from Japan. It was a white coloured chocolate, FYI.