Japanese sweets and snack food

Japanese sweets are so unique and very original. Of course we have some nice  foreign sweets such as chupa chups, kit kat, snickers, pringles and such but who can live without Japanese sweets? No one! The most popular Japanese sweets must be Pocky. We have some flavors such as strawberry, green tea, coconut chocolate, white chocolate etc. Pritz is as popular as Pocky, and both sweets are products of Glico. You can find limited flavors depending on seasons and many people are so excited whenever new interesting flavors come out. Pritz recently started selling "Super Butter" flavor....this is the best! Since I think most viewers of this blog already know about Pocky and Prits, I will introduce a relatively new sweets which I keep buying these days.

This is gummy candy which I am addicted to these days. One package is about ¥100, price differs depending on where you buy this. This kind of tiny gummy/ candy packages tend to be cheaper to buy at drug stores than supermarkets and convenience stores. When you look at package of Japanese sweets, each sweets has its own catch phrase to attract people. For example, this one says "-From Danish mothers wisdom- tender boiled apple-" I think this expression "tender" is used as something is soft, but to add warm feelings to it, they wanted to use the word "yasashii" (tender), I guess. Also the picture of the package gives you warm and kind of nostalgic feeling. Maybe when you buy this, you will think about your mother's homemade sweets while you are eating this and feel nostalgic. That must be their strategy.

And...they have juice too!!! It says it contains 1/2 apple... I highly recommend all viewers to try this gummy candy and juice. You won't regret it! Let's feel nostalgic.... :)

花見 -Hanami-

In the end of March to mid April, the beautiful sceneries of cherry blossoms are everywhere in Japan. When the wind blows and many cherry petals softly fall on the ground, it is just speechless. One thing Japanese people always enjoys the most during this season is "Hanami". "Hanami" is like a picnic which purpose is to eat, drink, talk with your friends or family while seeing beautiful cherry blossoms. Some people even bring Karaoke machines and enjoy Karaoke party under the cherry trees.

I went to Kyoto with my friends the other day to see cherry blossoms. We went to famous Yasaka Jinjya, just a few minutes walk from downtown main streets. It was pretty crowded with people came to see cherry blossoms although it was a pretty cold day. There are two long path ways within Yasaka Jinjya park and both ways were full of fast food stands. Fast food stands are popular in Japan but they are mostly only seen during festivals. There are Yakisoba stand, Okonomiyaki stand, Kebab stand (relatively new, I suppose), Fruit candy stand (We used to only have Apple candy stand but they start selling candies with other fruits such as strawberries and grapes) , Shooting game stands and such.

 There were even tables and zabuton (Japanese cushions) prepared by some shops selling food under the tent. (Not by food stands owners but by more expensive food sellers, such as people selling ramen.) Please take a look at the picture below. These seats look simple but cosy. There were many couples, family and friends having meals and snacks together and some were drinking beer at the table.

People are supposed to prepare their meals and blue seats to sit on most of the times since not all places have seats prepared or have food stands selling food. The one thing which is becoming a problem is that some people do not take their garbages home. It is the most important rule when people get together and have fun eating meals in public places. If you go to Hanami and appreciate the beauty of nature, please do not forget to take garbages home with you. Enjoy the rest of Hanami season! :D