Best of Snack Attack 2020

I usually make this a video, but 2020 zapped my time and energy, so I figured it would be good to change it into a blog post. Here are the top prizes for the snacks and drinks I indulged in for my YouTube series, Snack Attack!

The Year 2020 in KitKats

So 2020 was a big dumpster fire for most of the year. However, KitKats are still on point here in Japan, and while I used to do more spaced-out, handful of KitKat posts, I decided to just wrap up all the delicious wafers into one post. Without further ado, all the flavors (mostly seasonals and […]

Why Beaujolais Nouveau is Huge in Japan

The start of wine season is a big deal in France, with a dedicated day every November to celebrate the new wine. from Beaujolais. Japan, having a bit of a Francophile streak in it, has taken to this holiday in a big way, which explains the mystery of why this wine is only sold for […]

Coming to Coffee

I fancied myself on the side of tea for a very long time. I found it to be bearable, even in its most repulsive or difficult of forms, whereas coffee was always a struggle to keep down. But something has changed in this past year. I’ve found myself slowly warming up to bean juice and […]

Two Traditional Japanese Foods That Actually Came From Portugal

When you hear about certain things, you automatically associate them with Japan. Japan has this gift of taking on things and breathing new life into them, giving them a new identity waiting to be discovered. Their oldest modern trading partners, the Portuguese, gave them some of what now consider the most iconic parts of Japanese […]

The Deadliest Food in Japan: Mochi

You thought it was pufferfish (fugu), didn’t you? Well, as risky as that particular food may be, it doesn’t hold a candle to that sticky rice confection that takes the widest variety of forms. Usually, Japan sees a spike around New Year’s in hospitalizations from eating this treat, as well as a few deaths. What […]

Sayama Tea Festival 2019

Out in Saitama Prefecture is Sayama City, a proud producer of tea for Japan. They’re pretty niche, though, producing less than 1% of all tea for the nation. Regardless, they have a strong tea tradition which is on display during the annual Sayama Tea Festival, which we were fortunate enough to take part in this […]

Ramune

So, you think you know soda? Think again! Ramune is the summer soda of choice and is the defacto soda flavor in the country of Japan. It’s not the taste of Pepsi or Coke, oh no! Those are cola flavors, not soda! The fun drink gained popularity overseas for its novel marble seal and the […]

Coedo Beer Festival 2019

Every year, local brewery Coedo throws a little shindig to celebrate the joys of craft brewing. They invite tons of local vendors, do some interesting collaborative brews, and offer all sorts of entertainment for the fine people of Kawagoe.

Gekkeikan Sake Museum

Gekkeikan is a very popular sake brand in Japan, and near Kyoto in Fushimi, you can visit a very nice little museum they’ve put together to show visitors the process of making sake, a bit of sake history, and an exhibit dedicated to the history of the Gekkeikan brand.