Freedom Japanese Market is a Japanese snack box that’s created by a small family run business. They were kind enough to send us a box to try out and it came packed full of seasonal Japanese snacks and included a thoughtful gift too.
This month’s box is the ‘Summer Kickoff Box’ and it’s filled with sweet treats with summery flavours like strawberry, lemon and cherry, plus savoury snacks that have a barbecue/grill theme.
After trying out other snack boxes in the past, I’m intrigued to see how this one compares, but I’m already a ‘fan’ of the fact that they include a gift. I think the addition of a folding fan (sensu) in a summer themed box is perfect and I loved the wave design on mine. I’ll definitely be taking it with me on my summer Japan trip.
The box itself is very basic, but I like the cute stickers of the family and the sumo wrestler. As the box is quite plain, it would’ve been nice to have had some decorative tape to make it a bit more interesting and pretty to photograph for sharing with others too.
The information sheet they include is great and comes with pictures of each snack, plus the information and allergens for each one. It has a nice bright design, but I think it would be better on thicker or shinier paper, just in case there’s any water damage in transit or any spills at home.
However, the snacks are undeniably the stars of the show and our box was filled to the brim. This is what the box included this month: KitKat Strawberry Cheesecake, Lotte Crunky Caramel Chocolate, Chateraise Setouchi Lemon Cake, Meiji Dark Cherry Gummy, Hello Kitty Chocolate Snack, Morinaga Ramune Grape Candy, Calbee Sapporo Potato BBQ Flavour, Umaibo Yakitori and Salad Flavours, Kuki Ume Wakame Seaweed, Alfort Hokkaido Melon Flavoured Chocolate Cookie, Calbee Black Pepper Potato Chips, Koikeya BBQ Corn Snacks, and Morinaga Chocochips Lemon Cookies.
Let me share some of my favourites…
I loved the mystery element of the Hello Kitty chocolate snack with a chance to get 1 out of 8 Sanrio designs. I got Kuromi, which I was thrilled about, and the chocolate was actually pretty delicious too with a hint of strawberry in the chocolate and some crispy bits mixed through too. Definitely not just style over substance.
The incredibly moist Chateraise Setouchi Lemon Cake might have been the main attraction for me. I’ve had some delicious Setouchi lemon drinks and snacks while travelling west Japan and this just took me right back. I wish there had been two!
Koikeya BBQ Corn Snacks are absolutely delicious and the perfect snack for with drinks or watching a film. Super crunchy and packed with flavour, I couldn’t stop eating them. I loved the combination of the sweet and savoury BBQ sauce.
Umaibo corn snacks are some of my favourites and the yakitori one is always a good choice. It has a slight grilled skewer flavour but with the tang and sweetness of the yakitori sauce. I’d never tried the salad one before, but it had a much fresher flavour than the yakitori and made for a nice comparison.
I was surprised to get an entire box of biscuits and I’m so glad we did because the buttery biscuit had a subtle but lingering lemon flavour and the burst of chocolate was such a nice smooth contrast to the crisp biscuit. The only downside is that they come wrapped in pairs in separate plastic packaging, although that works well if you want to share them or take them with you as part of your lunch or snack break.
I was extremely happy with my selection of snacks this month and there was a good mix of sweet and savoury. It’s nice to see some familiar brands with some new-to-me and seasonal flavours, plus the opportunity to experience and discover brands that I’d never tried before. Everything seemed like it had been carefully chosen for the theme and nothing felt like a ‘filler’ snack that was just there to pad out the box. I’m not sure that the box would be as good for vegans, because only one or two of the snacks are suitable, and only a few were good for those on a gluten-free diet too.
I like the fact that it’s a family run business and the style of the box and information sheet made me feel like a friend was sending me a care package from Japan. Overall, I would definitely recommend trying the box out.
Subscribe now with $5 off!
Freedom Japanese Market is a monthly Japanese subscription snack with every snack hand-picked by the family in rural Japan. Each box costs $37.99, with fully tracked shipping worldwide from Japan, and there are further discounts if you subscribe for a block of 3 boxes. SCK readers get $5 off your first box with the code SUPERCUTEKAWAII
Box was provided by Freedom Japanese Market for review and this post includes affiliate links, but snack picks, opinions and photos are our own. Sponsored content helps us fund this site and save you from annoying popups and videos. Thank you for your support!
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