Conbini Cabaret: Summer 2017

Remember this post about Limited Edition Conbini Candy? I’m happy to report that several years on, Japan is just as obsessed with Limited Edition Candy as it was before. Here’s a summer 2017 snippet of some seasonal sweets on Japan’s conbini shelves - some super, some strange. I haven’t tried most of them (you’ll see why in a moment), but if you’re in Japan and you’re so inclined, you should check them out.

First up: yogurt-flavored Kit Kat balls. They don’t look all that bad and the packaging even notes: FOR ALL THE FANS! WE’VE KEPT YOU WAITING!

Mushroom Mountains are still kind of strange-cute, whatever flavor they are. But red beans? Absolutely not my jam.

Summer is for salt-flavored candy, ‘cause you sweat - how thoughtful of these candy makers - which pairs well with vanilla. These Alfort dark cocoa cookies have a vanilla white chocolate layer with a hint of salt. Salt from Ishigaki in Okinawa, no less. These were delicious. Hunt them down.

Domestic salt? Please. Dars uses fancy French salt from Lorraine. Lo-re-nu.

On a tropical note: Thick Coconut Milk Blanchul - langue du chat biscuits sandwiched with a coconut milk-flavored filling. A little Googling reveals that blanchul is a portmanteau of blanche (white) and, um, chul. Which is apparently a kind of lace. I have absolutely no idea whether this is a word that exists in French, but tell us if you know about it. 

On the left is chocolate-orange HORN - a cocoa wafer-like biscuit sandwiching this gentle orange cream, so fucking delicious I immediately bought four more boxes. Zero regrets.

Plum wine flavored chocolate biscuits. No further explanation required.

These are curry-flavored rice cracker snacks called Kari-Kari, which is an onomatopoeia for “crispy.” Geddit? This is exactly the kind of sad joke that I love.

The kind of packaging aimed at people who know what Cinnamonroll is, and who already know about LOOK. A cursory glance explains nothing.

BAKE - a nice crunch-bite on the outside yielding to a softer interior. Quite good. And mint-flavored! So summer, so normal.

I would not pay money to eat a coriander-flavored BAKE, though if you gave me a box. I would certainly tell you what I thought of them.

I’ve just started keeping a list of stranger Pocky flavors spotted in convenience stores. Here’s the first one that made the list: Sunny Apples of Happiness.

Sweet n’ sour lemon cream-covered Pocky sticks. At least it wasn’t a Golden Shower.