Enjoy the things you can afford
Brand: Family Mart Sweets Cost: 130 yen Found At: Family Mart I do not feel comfortable attesting that there is any pumpkin in this – or that there is any pumpkin flavoring for that matter. I appreciate that the Family Mart is trying to put a festive twist on their pound cake and I’m... Continue Reading →
Brand: Yama-chan (?) Cost: 149 yen Found At: Lawsons The second graders did a school play in English this year. It was an ambitious production, seeing as only one of the three second-grade teachers is comfortable in English, but they managed to pull it off – to the delight of all the English-speaking teachers and... Continue Reading →
Brand: Lawson Bakery Cost: 130 yen Found At: Lawsons It’s autumn, I am a white woman, and if you think I would pass up a gluten-free, pumpkin-flavored muffin, then you don’t truly understand the experience of a white woman in the autumn. I’m not even gluten-intolerant! There is something wonderful about being able to... Continue Reading →
Brand: Unsure Cost: 150 yen Found At: Lawsons Inari Sushi is one of those Japanese foods that I know picky eaters would like, but that I can never convince them to try. I’ve tried all sorts of lines, “It’s just sweet tofu!” and “There’s 100% no fish and no seaweed in this” and even “it’s... Continue Reading →
Brand: Calbee Cost: 148 yen Found At: Lawsons When I first came to Japan, I imagined the convenience store was some sort of bastion of egalitarianism. Rich or poor, young or old, powerful or powerless, I assumed that everyone shopped at the same convenience stores and ate the same snacks and sweets. Partially fueled... Continue Reading →
Brand: Glico Cost: 162 yen Found At: 7-11 It is my thin privilege to state that I don’t believe in “reduced fat” candy. It’s the same reason that I don’t believe in vegetarian bacon. It’s not that these things are bad, but I don’t approve of trying to make one thing into another thing. Inevitably,... Continue Reading →
Brand: Asahi Cost: 100 yen Found At: 7-11 When I thought about my life and my future, I never expected it to contain the sentence, “I expected these to be squid tentacles.” But life is funny, and I expected this small snack package to contain squid tentacles. In fact, when I opened up the package,... Continue Reading →
Brand: Imuraya Cost: 110 yen Found At: Vending Machine When I was an exchange student, I budgeted 150 yen every day for the vending machine on the way to school. It was a needless expense, but I’m only human and it became one of the highlights of my day. If I was feeling fancy, I... Continue Reading →
Brand: Calbee Cost: 170 yen Found At: 7-11 I feel like I really missed out in my childhood, not having potato sticks. They are exactly the kind of snack that I would have loved as a kid – mild, starchy, and in stick form – but I was born about ten years too early for... Continue Reading →
Brand: Yamasaki Cost: 119 yen Found At: 7-11 During that first autumn in China, the one thing that bothered me more than anything else was the sheer and shocking lack of sugar in my diet. Everything was too salty, and nothing was sweet enough. For that first month, I was lethargic and irritable, unaware that... Continue Reading →
The Little Food Blog 