{"id":51867,"date":"2017-02-21T16:52:19","date_gmt":"2017-02-21T22:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=51867"},"modified":"2017-02-21T16:52:19","modified_gmt":"2017-02-21T22:52:19","slug":"japan-novel-food-flavors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/japan-novel-food-flavors\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese novelty food you wish you could get in Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Shen Lu<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"It's<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
It’s a sushi set displayed at a Tokyo KitKat boutique store, featuring a sushi omelet KitKat, a sea urchin sushi candy and a tuna sushi bar. (Shen Lu\/MEDILL) <\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Try<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Starbucks Japan releases a special drink almost every month, including this chocolatey banana cocoa. The sweet New Year beverage easily found its fans at 460 yen ($4.08) for a tall-size cup, 90 yen higher than a regular latte ($3.28). The newest seasonal drink is cherry blossom. (Shen Lu\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"They<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Mochi, a traditional Japanese rice cake that usually comes in the form of fruity ice cream in the U.S., is a special holiday treat in Japan. Mitarashi dango is a type of rice dough skewered onto sticks and coated with a sweet soy sauce glaze. You can get a skewer for 80 yen ($0.71). (Shen Lu\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Cheese,<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Cheese, soy milk and black pepper are among the 56 chocolate flavors from Meiji\u2019s contemporary chocolate boutique, 100% Chocolate Cafe. It\u2019s hard to tell if consumers buy the chocolate squares for the flavors or the colorful and modernist package design. The price ranges from 200 yen to 300 yen per piece ($1.77-$2.66). (Shen Lu\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Matcha<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Matcha lovers, Nanaya offers matcha gelato in seven levels of intensity. Level 7 is said to be the the world\u2019s most intense green tea flavor. A scoop of matcha gelato costs 370 yen ($3.28), except Level 7, which costs 560 yen ($4.96). (Shen Lu\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Turns<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Turns out they are plum-flavored seaweed that tastes a little like sour skittles with a pinch of salt. Very unusual. (Shen Lu\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Trump candy anyone? Traditional hand-made cylindrical candies can be found everywhere in the country with various cute designs. This year, a Japanese company released a timely version of U.S. President Donald Trump. (Shen Lu\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Although<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Although black sesame is rarely known as a flavor in the West, it is extremely popular in East Asian countries, including Japan. Black sesame paste, along with red bean paste, is a common occurrence in traditional Asian desserts. (Shen Lu\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Tokyo<\/strong> —\u00a0Chicago may be a foodie\u2019s paradise, but the city has nothing on Tokyo when it comes to quirky, innovative food flavors.<\/p>\n

Take KitKat, one of the most common American snacks, as an example. \u00a0In Japan, there are 300-plus gourmet flavors ranging from matcha and wasabi to butter and sake. There’s even a KitKat\u00a0\u00a0museum<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Green tea — or matcha — is the country’s signature snack flavor. With spring around the corner, cherry blossom is likely to be the star flavor for March.<\/p>\n

Many novelty food producers release limited seasonal flavors throughout the year. Meanwhile, the delicate, artistic packaging, influenced by minimalist aesthetics, appeals to design-conscious Japanese consumers.<\/p>\n

\"A
A glimpse of Japanese packaging designs. (Shen Lu\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

KitKat’s fancy limited seasonal versions, often in special packaging, can cost dearly. A pack of 12 regular matcha KitKat bars were selling in Tokyo earlier this month for 300 yen ($2.66) at grocery stores, while a piece of luxury “Moleson” cost 540 yen ($4.79) at the high-end KitKat specialty shops.<\/p>\n

\"Moleson\"
“Moleson” is a regular KitKat chocolate base covered by a sprinkling of almonds and dried cranberries. (Shen Lu\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The company this month added a new wild flavor to its line-up \u2013 sushi. Its “sushi sets” were only available from Feb. 2 to 14, and were given out to the first 30 customers of the day who spent a minimum of 3,000 yen ($26.59) at Tokyo’s newest KitKat Chocolatory shop<\/a>, located in Ginza.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: A “sushi set” displayed at the Ginza KitKat speciality store in Tokyo. (Shen Lu\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Shen Lu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":379,"featured_media":51874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,3516],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-winter-2017","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"yoast_head":"\nJapanese novelty food you wish you could get in Chicago - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/japan-novel-food-flavors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Japanese novelty food you wish you could get in Chicago - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Shen Lu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/japan-novel-food-flavors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-02-21T22:52:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/sushi-flavored-kitkats.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"lushen2015\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"lushen2015\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/japan-novel-food-flavors\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/japan-novel-food-flavors\/\",\"name\":\"Japanese novelty food you wish you could get in Chicago - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/japan-novel-food-flavors\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/japan-novel-food-flavors\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/sushi-flavored-kitkats.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-21T22:52:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/0d5c71315904968c4250c49d3acf0e11\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/japan-novel-food-flavors\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/japan-novel-food-flavors\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/japan-novel-food-flavors\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/sushi-flavored-kitkats.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/sushi-flavored-kitkats.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":900,\"caption\":\"It's a sushi set displayed at a Tokyo KitKat boutique store, featuring a sushi omelet KitKat, a sea urchin sushi candy and a tuna sushi bar. 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