Sweet & spicy Japan, our Candysan haul review

Yesterday we received a package from Japan! Wait, I should make a little flashback with this. Encouraged by the good reviews of Candysan from two of our daily reads, the Ice Pandora and My sweet solitude blogs (make sure to check their lovely and helpful Candysan review videos!), and the incredible nostalgia for Japan that once in a while overwhelms us, we decided to make our first purchase of Japan snacks in the online store.

Maybe some of you already know how our obsession for snacks lead us to eat and take pictures of more than 100 items during our honeymoon there? If you have seen the video you will certainly understand how eager we were to order some of our favorites, like the pockys, matcha kit kats or the pizza Calbee chips. One of the snacks that Dani was more looking forward was to order some umai-bo. Do you know what they are? It’s that corn flavored stick that has a Doraemon-ish cat in their packaging. We may or may not have tried it the first time after yelling: Oh! Doraemon snack, I need! :) but definitely the strong flavor and the crazy variety of flavors won us over. You will soon notice that the longing for Japan and Umai-bo gotten us too far ordering around 20 sticks (luckily they are a steal…)

Well, so in order that this is in fact a review and not just me rambling let’s share some of our purchasing facts. Here is the list of snacks we bought:

  • Pocky rum & raisin
  • Hello Kitty mini candy
  • Kit kat sakura green tea
  • Kit kat chili
  • Kit kat Mount Fuji
  • Cheeza – Camembert cheese & honey
  • Kongari edamame
  • Milky strawberry daifuku
  • Umai-bo Takoyaki
  • Umai-bo Pork kimchi
  • Umai-bo Tonkatsu sauce
  • Umai-bo Chicken curry
  • Umai-bo Corn Potage
  • Umai-bo Onion salada
  • Umai-bo Cheese
  • Umai-bo Teriyaki burger
  • Umai-bo Salami
  • Umai-bo Shrimp & mayonnaise
  • Umai-bo Natto

I know…we should have restricted ourselves more for a first purchase :) a total of 27 items for 27.68€ not bad, right? Shipping to Spain was less than 10€, and it took 16 days for our haul to arrive into our home, which is quite reasonable for a package coming from Japan.

The box was wrapped quite carefully and all the items have arrived without any scratch in their packaging. Since I have to admit that one of the things that I like more about Japan snacks is their beautiful packaging, this is something I appreciate! :) Oh, and Candysan also included two chocolate candies as freebies.

So far we have already tried almost all the umai-bos (Dani did, mine are still in display), the Mt Fuji, chili kit kats and lots of daifuku milky candies (that’s my own fault, they are too tempting). Read our impressions between the pics and don’t forget to ask us about any one of them if you are curious about their taste or anything! :)

All in all, we would definitely be buying again (and again) from Candysan. We like that they have seasonal varieties that change quite often, for instance there are already newer things like the Okinawa regional Kit Kat which was not available two weeks ago. Maybe as hoarders as we are, we would love if they would have even a bigger catalogue (it is large! but you know, we can dream! :P) with some chips, I missed my pizza chips.

Are you hungry for some Japan snacks? We always are! :) Let’s have a snack picnic together!

Candysan package - The cat, you and us

This package was waiting for me when I arrived home yesterday. Our Asakusa cat charm was a little hint :P

Package from Japan - The cat, you and us

Japan! Can you hear my excited scream? ;P

Juno, the mailing inspector - The cat, you and us

Juno turned into a health inspector, everything looks in order to eat.

Juno and the Candysan goodies - The cat, you and us

Exciting neon colors waiting!

Cansydan haul - The cat, you and us

Here you can better see all the items in our haul.

Spicy Kit Kat - The cat, you and us

Chili Kit kat, was subtle at first (Dani even told me that he was not tasting any spice there) but grows in your mouth afterwards. This is Dani’s review, I still have to taste it!

Sakura & matcha Kit Kat - The cat, you and us

Sakura & matcha kit kat, not yet tried.

Strawberry cheesecake Kit Kat - The cat, you and us

The Mt. Fuji kit kat is in fact a strawberry cheesecake kit kat, which tastes like a regular strawberry kit kat with more milky flavor.

Juno - The cat, you and us Juno & Hello Kitty candies - The cat, you and us Takoyaki umai - The cat, you and us Umai madness - The cat, you and us

Takoyaki umaibo is Dani’s favorite flavor. He has also tried every other flavor and all are really strong salty with very recognisable taste. In the picture are featured in order the takoyaki, chicken curry, teriyaki burger, corn potage, tonkatsu sauce, cheese and onion salada. A part from takoyaki, he fancies in this order the chicken curry and the teriyaki burger.

Asakusa cat charm & Hello Kitty - The cat, you and us

The Asakusa cat has kidnapped the Hello Kitty candy box, hope I can reason with him.

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13 Comments

  1. Jane Y. ADDS...

    i totally saw mei’s video review on ice pandora. she did such a great video. and all these sweets! they look so delicious :)

    11th April 2014
    • We reply...

      Oh! totally agree, I loved Mei’s video. I found also very fun when she tastes and gives a score to each product. Dani’s favorite part is when she says: “I’ll give a 9.5 because nothing is perfect in life”, he can’t agree more on that sentence, he usually also says the same when we are giving a score to movies :)

  2. Louise ADDS...

    Hahaha, I did a little haul there too last month. But of course I couldn’t contain myself (my hunger and enthusiasm) to try out everything almost as soon as I got it (not actually eating everything in one go of course!!). So my picture or video time kind of failed. Though I don’t think I could make my haul look any cuter than yours. The amount of umaibo you got made me laugh!

    11th April 2014
    • We reply...

      Thanks Louise!! hahahahahaha was it also from Candysan? I had to keep Dani off the box so we could actually take pictures before he started devouring everything :) He finished his part of umaibo (around 9 sticks) that same evening O_O

  3. Sara ADDS...

    :D so many goodiessssssssss

    12th April 2014
    • We reply...

      ooohhh yes! I think I enjoy more looking at the haul than actually eating it, hahahha :)

  4. Kristine ADDS...

    Omg Japan has the best snacks ever! I’m kind of mad you shared this site. Now I’m going to be craving hardcore for some!!

    12th April 2014
    • We reply...

      Agree!!!,snacks in Japan are so fun because of the weird flavors and also because they are extremely good looking! :)

  5. Fiona ADDS...

    Ahh this is so fun, I remember seeing those doraemon snacks but never even thinking to buy one – maybe not realising what they even were :P I love all the packaging but probably the most the fuji kit kat! How cute is your Asakusa cat charm too! Okay I’m off to look more at this candysan site :)

    13th April 2014
    • We reply...

      If you think you would like Cheetos with Japanese flavors (teriyaki, tonkatsu, takoyaki…) Umaibo are your thing! :) :) Aww yes, we definitely bought the Mt Fuji kit kat for its cute packaging (guilty :P)

  6. Katie ADDS...

    I’ve never heard of this service but now I’m so excited! I love candy, I love packages, soooo it’s all coming together nicely! Thanks for sharing, I’m going to see the other reviews you linked to.

    16th April 2014
    • We reply...

      We were really excited to learn of this service, having snacks from Japan in our kitchen now is a nice reminder of our honeymoon in the country, not that I need to remind, but you know, it puts a smile! :)

  7. Sue ADDS...

    Oh, what a wonderful collection of treats to receive in the mail! I love Japanese Kit Kats, they have the most eclectic flavors!

    2nd May 2014

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