It’s been a while since we reviewed a subscription box from Japanfunbox. Last time, Nicolette reviewed a mini box and now we’re getting a look at the family box.
This is one of the biggest boxes we’ve ever reviewed containing 38 items! With a wide range of both sweet and savoury snacks inside, it makes for a great sharing box. There’s so much inside that even with two of us, we weren’t able to try everything, but we’ll show you everything that was inside and our highlights.
Kit Kats
Everyone loves trying all the weird and wonderful Japanese Kit Kats and we got 7 different flavours. Most exciting was the Kit Kat Luxury Every Day (top) – a single finger covered in dark chocolate with almond and cranberry on top. We also really liked the Wasabi (not spicy at all), Hojicha/roasted tea (a really interesting flavour) and Caramel Pudding (especially the packaging – bottom right). We’re not usually fans of red bean paste but that one was quite nice too. There was also green tea and strawberry cheesecake, that we’ve reviewed before.
Classic Brands
If you’ve visited Japan, or subscribed to a candy box, you’re sure to have tried one or more of these. They’re pretty easy to find but so good I’m always happy to see them. This box included mini packs of Koala’s March, Kinoko No Yama (mushroom-shaped biscuits), Takenoko No Sato (bamboo shoot-shaped biscuits) and Tabekko Doubutsu (animal biscuits). There was also a large size Black Thunder bar – a mix of chocolate, cookies and rice puffs.
Biscuits
It’s rare to get a full size pack of biscuits and the Bourbon Blanchul mini biscuits looked really pretty. They were sandwiched with a tangy lemon white chocolate. There were also a couple of packs of Glico Bisco chocolate biscuits, which were fine but nothing special.
Dagashi
These are cheap candy treats aimed at children, where the packaging is just as fun as what’s inside. There were standard items like bubble gum and popping candy, plus Banana Man, a marshmallow with banana chocolate coating.
Our favourite was the Uranaikko Gum with sticks designed to look like the fortunes you get at Japanese temples. The packaging is really clever so you can shake the box for a fortune just like in real life. Unfortunately, we couldn’t figure out what our fortunes meant, – the Google Translate app almost got there but couldn’t quite make sense of it.
Novelties
These are pretty much guaranteed to get everyone laughing. There’s just something very funny about eating jelly out of a tiny pouch. Nicolette really enjoyed the Purun to Konnaku jellies which had a consistency like a soft gummy that was fun to eat. The Suppai spray is a strawberry flavoured liquid that you spray on to your tongue and is a little bit too crazy.
Traditional Snacks
As well as candy, the Japanfunbox included lots of savoury snacks. Most intriguing was Moeyo! Tougarashi – fried chili slices! These were really spicy and we didn’t enjoy them much, but they could make a good bar snack for chili fans. The rest are all rice crackers with different shapes and flavours. We especially enjoyed the plain Bourbon Petit plain rice crackers with cute bear packaging.
Mochi
One of the prettiest items, this pack of Mochi was packaged like a gift. Each piece is dusted with kinako – roasted soybean flour that has a nutty flavour. I’m not a fan of mochi but Nicolette thought it was quite nice but messy to eat.
Savoury Foods
The box also included some meal kits but I haven’t had a chance to try any yet. The Anpanman Retort Curry is a pouch of readymade curry that you heat in boiling water. There’s also two types of instant Miso Soup. I did try the world’s tiniest piece of cheese! which tasted a bit flavourless and artificial, but I am spoiled by living in a country with many interesting cheeses.
The box also includes an information sheet, but to be honest, this was more confusing than helpful. The items aren’t organised in any way so you spend a lot of time looking for things, plus they show all the flavours/variations that could be in your box. It also assumes you already know a lot about Japanese food – things like kinako or how to heat a retort pouch are not explained. I would like to see the items arranged in categories and with more information on the flavours and ingredients.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this was a really fun box to unpack with lots of new and interesting things to try. It’s recommended for 4+ people to share and I would agree with that if you subscribe for monthly boxes. Most items are individual sized so you may have a few fights over the most popular items, but they’re all easily shareable. It would be perfect for a family or group of friends, especially if you make it extra fun by rating each item or choosing at random.
Updated 2022: This box is no longer active – use the SCK Guide to Subscription Boxes to find something similar.
(Box was provided by Japanfunbox for review but all words and photographs are my own.)
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