Retro Japanese Snacks Perfect for Your International Sweet Tooth

With the sweets of famous international brands and local companies alike circulating in Japan, there's some good snacking to be found. The country is especially well known for the huge variety of new products constantly in development, which includes everything from wacky do-it-yourself gourmet gummies to limited-edition soda-flavored potato chips. When the classics stick around for a hundred years in this industry, though, you know they're good! So today let us tell you a little about one of Japan's most beloved confectionary companies, Fujiya, which has been on shelves for over a century.

Peko-chan Sweets from Fujiya, Popular Nationwide

Have you seen this cheeky little girl before? The cute character is called Peko-chan, and she's probably the most recognizable part of Fujiya's brand. You'll see Peko-chan's sassy grin on the packaging of some of Japan's most popular candies, sticking out her tongue and sometimes giving you a mischevious little wink.

Fujiya's specialty shops offer tasty cakes and fresh treats, but thanks to a century of snack development, you'll most often find Fujiya's packaged candies and cookies stashed in the pockets and bags of people across Japan.

Go ahead and stash a couple of chocolates in your purse for a rainy day, or keep a little stockpile of candies in your desk at work. We won't judge!

If you're not familiar with Peko-chan, she might seem like any old mascot, but she actually holds a pretty nostalgic place in the hearts of many in Japan. Aside from Fujiya packaging, you're likely to find her cute face on things like stationery and accessories. Sometimes Peko-chan will be a part of collaborations with totally unrelated companies, resulting in products like Peko-chan cosmetics, or even special limited-edition art exhibition souvenirs in Tokyo.

Snack on These Six Satisfying Sweets in Japan

Thanks to all the limited-time-only specialties and long-selling favorites, we'd be here for hours if we tried to list every single one of Fujiya's popular products. So we'll just go over the basics: treats so popular in Japan, you'll find them just about anywhere (supermarkets, convenience stores, picnics, college parties... these are pretty ubiquitous!)

If you're in the mood to treat yourself to a sweet snack, or you're looking for the perfect bit of nostalgia to bring home to your friends as souvenirs, here are our recommendations!

① Peko Poko Chocolate

These creamy milk chocolate choco-pops are decorated with the white chocolate and strawberry-flavored faces of Peko-chan and her friend Poko! The melt-in-your-mouth treats are popular among young kids in Japan, but they'd also make pretty fabulous souvenirs. Your friends will love the packaging, featuring a backdrop of Japanese cultural icons of all kinds, including temples and maiko (geisha).

Price: 108 yen
Our favorite online review: "These are so good, I bought them in bulk."

② Pop Candy

Popular since their debut in 1954, these simple lollipops are like the dum-dums of Japan. Available in basic flavors like orange, strawberry, and grape, the green tea polyphenols added to the candy mean we can pretend they're even good for us! If nothing else, they're certainly good for the soul.

Price: 216 yen
Our favorite online review: "I didn't know what to buy for White Day, so I handed these out to all my female colleagues."

③ Fujiya Home Pie

With 700 layers of dough and butter sandwiched together, these crunchy cookies do taste a bit like a buttery pie crust. The slightly sweet and super-flakey treats have been popular with people of all ages since 1968, and they go great with a cup of tea (or perhaps a bowl of matcha).

Price varies.
Our favorite online review: "So delicious, I don't even mind that these rain crumbs all over. Worth it."

④ Country Ma'am Cookies

Country Ma'am cookies appeared on shelves in the 80's, but these days you couldn't avoid them if you wanted to! The bags of satisfyingly soft cookies (a uniquely cakey and firm texture) often come in bags like this of ten chocolate chip cookies, and ten chocolate-chocolates, and are staples of get-togethers among friends of all ages. Thanks to constant development, the Country Ma'am recipe has been tweaked over 40 times in the last few decades, so the cookies just keep getting better.

Price varies.
Our favorite online review: "Once I open a bag of these, I literally can't stop my hands from shoveling more and more into my mouth."

⑤ Milky Soft Candy

Fujiya's "Milky" candies are little milk-infused caramels, which utilize some of Japan's best dairy, straight from Hokkaido, to create a rich and creamy little sweet. We bet your grandparents might like a bag of these, to replace the butterscotch candies stuffed in their pockets and purses.

Price: 108 yen for 69 g, 216 yen for 120 g
Our favorite online review: "I like these. My children like these. We go through a lot of them."

⑥ Look Chocolate

One look at this colorful packaging and you'll get a good idea of what to expect, but we can thank Raymond Loewy (whose portfolio includes work for Coca Cola) for that bold logo.

Price: 119 yen

The Look A La Mode variety offers some ice-cream-inspired chocolate fillings.

Price varies.

Look 4 is perfect for more mature palates. Inside are little pure chocolate squares, including 27% cacao milk chocolate, 40% cacao bitter chocolate, 55% cacao dark chocolate, and high-cacao chocolate that weighs in at 70%.

Price varies.
Our favorite online review: "With the four different varieties, Look is always there for me during my mood swings."

And one bonus review: "These taste pretty convincing."

The Fujiya Specialty Confectionery Shop

If you're turning into a bit of a Fujiya fanatic, you can't miss a trip to one of Fujiya's specialty stores. They're all around Japan, but goods do seem to vary a little. They all sell plenty of the standard packaged snacks, alongside special souvenirs, and have glass cases of fresh cakes and pastries. The sweet smells drift pretty temptingly out onto the street! If you've got a bit of a sweet tooth, you won't be able to resist the heavenly fragrance.

Fujiya Makes Sweets for Everyone

Fujiya's colorful, cute packaging (and Peko-chan's saucy face) might be a little childish, but the snacks are genuinely popular among people of all ages in Japan. The brand would have never achieved this level of ubiquity and nostalgia if they weren't making some high-quality snacks these 100+ years! So, when in Japan do as the Japanese do, ask a local what their favorite Fujiya snack is and grab some as souvenirs for your friends back home.

⇩ Craving something sweet? Fujiya's got you covered. ⇩