Last Updated: Jun 7, 2023 @ 1:33 pm.

Best Japanese Candy Variety: Tonosoma Candy’s 30 piece Japanese Candy Assortment

What’s the best Japanese snacks & candy?

Before you order any of these candy boxes, a word of caution: since these snacks are authentic and sourced from Japan, there is often no allergy warning information in English. If you have food allergies, we do not recommend eating these candies!

After testing a few different options, we pick Tonosoma’s 30-piece candy assortment as the best bet for Japanese candy—especially if you’d like to try something new or for a party. The box arrived without damage and inside was this package of snacks:

Here’s what the candy looks like when you take them out of the package:

One key note: the candies vary from box to box, so what you see above may not be in the box you get. From what we can tell from our research, contents are similar from box to box . . . but not exactly the same.

Also: you can see the size of the snacks—using the small bag of chips at the top of the picture, you can see most of the candies are bite-size in portion. Some you can share, some not!

Here’s more on why we liked this choice:

What We Liked

• Fun for parties—try to figure out what flavors are what. And for the brave, try the fish-flavored candies. While we liked a majority of the snacks, some are, uh, an acquired taste!

• Nice mix of various flavors.

• Affordable.

What Needs Work

• Arrives in a bag, not a box. Even though the item is shown with a box, we just got a bag of candy. So if you are giving these as a gift, the box will have to be supplied by you.

• Selection varies. If you have your heart set on a particular Japanese candy, this variety pack isn’t the best way to go. Contents will vary. From our point of view, that is part of the fun.

• Shipping damage. As you can see from the above picture, some of the treats arrived with a bit of damage—note the green cookie at the bottom is split in two. This didn’t bother us, but we can see how it would be disappointing.

Best DIY Japanese Candy: Popin’ Cookin Diy Candy Kit

And now for something different!

This clever kit of 8 packages lets you assemble various candies in the shapes of waffles, sushi, donuts—we know, sounds bizarre, but it is quite fun! A great craft idea to do on a rainy day . . . and then you can eat your creations. We loved it!

What We Liked

• Great idea for parties!

• Super cute mini candies that resemble . . . hamburgers? 

• Good flavors.

What Needs Work

• Requires adult help. You have to follow the directions exactly—mixing powders and other ingredients. That’s not any more difficult than assembling a basic LEGO toy building kit, but younger kids may need a hand.

Best Larger Variety: Ohimesama 35 piece Dagashi Snack Assortment

For an even larger assortment of Japanese treats, we’d recommend Ohimesama’s 35-piece snack assortment. Here’s more:

What We Liked

• Fun variety of flavors and textures!

• Larger quantity of snacks than other boxes. 

What Needs Work

• Small, bite-size packages. But that is true for most Japanese snack variety packs!

• No English ingredient listings. That is also true for all of the Japanese snack boxes we tried (except for the one below).

• Some snacks get crushed in shipping. We didn’t see that in the box we tested, but we see reports to that effect.

• May contain nuts.

• Some repeat snacks. Of course, that isn’t a negative if you like the repeated snack!

Why Trust Us

We’ve been rating and reviewing products for the home and families since 1994. We do hands-on testing—we buy the products with our own money and evaluate with an eye toward quality and affordability.

Here’s another key point: we don’t take money from the brands we review. No free samples, no sponsors, no “partnerships.” Our work is 100% reader-supported!