First Snow on Fuji
Made By
North Colors
Japanese saīdā “cider” is a clear, sharply carbonated soda, and these gummies keep its fizz in chewable form. The sweetness arrives bright and slightly tart, then the chew pulls it back, so nothing lingers too long. A light place to start the climb.
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Made By
Doi Seika
Doi Seika’s second appearance in this box, and the one that looks most like the theme: milk chocolate for the mountain, white chocolate for the snow that settles over it each autumn. Crisped rice runs through both, giving the chocolate something to snap against so it melts light rather than heavy. A first-snow mountain, two bites at a time.
Milk, Eggs, Peanuts, Wheat, Soy
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Made By
Doi Seika
Doi Seika works out of Shizuoka, the prefecture that looks up at Mount Fuji’s southern face, and these small biscuits are named for the mountain over their shoulder. Dry, light and plainly buttery, with white chocolate sandwiched between the biscuits and just enough salt in the dough to keep the toasted flour flavor forward. A souvenir sweet in the truest sense, the kind sold at the foot of the thing it depicts.
Milk, Eggs, Wheat, Soy
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Made By
Tohato
A cookie built on the oldest good idea in baking. The salt sharpens the butter without tipping the whole thing savory, and keeps a rich, short crumb from feeling heavy by the third one. Best with both hands around something hot.
Milk, Eggs, Tree nuts, Wheat, Soy
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Made By
Takara Seika
Condensed milk gives this filling a rounder, more nostalgic sweetness than plain sugar does. Two dry, crisp biscuits hold it in check, so each bite goes crisp first and soft second. Milky white straight through the middle, which suits the month.
Milk, Wheat, Soy
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Made By
Tenkei Seika
Dorayaki is two small pancakes around a filling, traditionally sweet bean paste; this one from Nagano swaps in purin, the custard pudding Japan has thoroughly made its own. The sponge is soft and honey-scented, the custard cool and vanilla-sweet, and the two together land somewhere between a cake and a breakfast. Especially good beside a cup of the Akafuji black tea also in this box.
Milk, Eggs, Wheat, Soy
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Made By
MD Holdings
Rolled thin enough to shatter rather than crumble, usuyaki, thinly baked, is the whole design. Roasted peanut runs all the way through, more toasty than sweet, with the thinness keeping the richness light. Light enough that a few go before you've decided to have a few.
Milk, Eggs, Peanuts, Wheat, Soy
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Made By
Senbei Lab
Shichihenge means seven transformations, a phrase Japanese people use when something shows a different face each time you look. Here it belongs to a small senbei maker in Saitama and to a rice cracker that shifts flavor from piece to piece. Mount Fuji does the same across a single day: pink at dawn, grey by noon, white by the time the light goes.
Milk, Eggs, Wheat, Soy, Sesame
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Made By
Meiho Shokuhin
Zakuzaku is the Japanese word for a rough, crunchy sound, inspired here by the manju’s craggy, textured appearance. Shaped like Mount Fuji, this little manju has a baked shell that is soft and moist despite its name, wrapping a smooth, sweet potato filling inside. The sweet potato brings a mellow, earthy sweetness, while the moist outer layer makes each bite soft and comforting. Sweet potato is one of Japan’s favorite flavors of autumn, and this little manju captures that seasonal comfort in every bite.
Milk, Eggs, Wheat, Soy
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Made By
Koikeya
Koikeya has been shaping Japan’s potato chip aisle for decades, and this is a straightforward piece of their work: well salted, with the garlic toasted rather than raw so it reads warm instead of sharp. The savory anchor of the box, and the one most likely to be opened first.
Milk, Soy
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Made By
Ginbis
Ginbis’s asparagus stick is a long-standing fixture of the Japanese snack shelf, ridged like the vegetable it is named after, and tasting nothing like it. This smaller version adds black pepper, which lifts the sesame and wheat base and leaves a slow warmth at the finish. Pepper earns its place in cold weather.
Wheat, Sesame
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Made By
Sanshin
Okaki is the chunkier branch of the rice cracker family, baked from pounded mochi rather than rolled thin. This mix leans on mayonnaise seasoning, creamy and faintly tangy, more savory than it sounds, with shrimp and squid worked in for depth. The shapes are all different sizes, so no two handfuls taste quite the same.
Milk, Eggs, Crustacean shellfish, Wheat, Soy
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Mollusk shellfish
Made By
Senbei Lab
Zarame is coarse sugar, the kind that stays visible as crystals instead of dissolving into the dough. Scattered across a thin senbei, it catches the light and gives every bite a grainy crunch before the toasted rice flavor comes through underneath. Sugar settling on rice, the way snow settles on the peak.
Wheat, Soy
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Made By
Kanagawa Ken Noukyo Chagyo Center
Japanese-grown black tea, wakōcha, is far less common than green, and this one is grown in the foothills below Hakone, the mountains that sit between Tokyo and Fuji. Akafuji, red Fuji, names the rare morning when the summit catches the sunrise and glows red, and the tea makes the same claim in the cup. Mild and low in tannin, so it holds its own without milk and never fights the sweets around it.
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Use freshly boiled water (about 200 ml / 7 oz). Steep the tea bag for 1–1.5 minutes with the cup covered. Gently shake the tea bag before removing. Do not squeeze, as this may make the tea bitter.
Made By
Mochikichi
Mochikichi bakes these in Fukuoka, thin enough that the crunch is the entire point, jari describes a gritty, gravelly sound, and the name is not being subtle. The soy sauce is brushed on and baked in, salty and faintly caramelized, with nothing else competing for attention. The plainest pleasure in the box, and the most durable.
Wheat, Soy
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Made By
Ragueneau Sasaki
Ragueneau Sasaki bakes in Aomori, at the northern tip of Japan’s main island, where yakkoi is the local word for soft and softness is the entire design of this sablé. It gives way rather than snapping, with a strawberry sweetness that stays gentle instead of turning candied. This strawberry flavor is their newest creation, making its debut with Bokksu—so for now, it’s only available here. The kind of cookie that suits a cold room and a hot drink.
Milk, Eggs, Wheat, Soy
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Alcohol
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