Japanese Candy Package Fun!

This is melon-flavoured “Puccho”. It is also yogurt-flavoured. How can I tell? Well the best information is found written sideways on the leftmost end. It says “Puccho” (as do the big green letters in the middle), and then “yogurt & melon”. This is written in English, but phonetically for Japanese readers. Yogurt actually comes out as ‘yohgoorooto’. Say it out loud. It’s kinda fun.

The little writing below the big green letters in the middle describes the treat for us. Apparently, it’s “puchi-puchi gumi hairi sofuto kyandi”. Puchi-puchi (pronounced “poochy-poochy”) is a kind of onomatopoeia, I can only guess to describe the spongy nature of the treat? Gumi (pronounced “goo-me”) is an attempt at English that I completely fail to understand. But according to this description, there is puchi-puchi gumi inside soft candy. Sounds … um … fun?

To the right of the big green “Puccho”, someone seems to be saying something in red. What it’s saying is “Oishisa Up!” Now, “oishisa” translates roughly as ‘deliciousness’. So I guess the deliciousness is somehow elevated. However, the scary little man in the very bottom right corner seems to be telling us that the flavour is somehow kind and gentle. OK, then. And above the exclamation of elevated deliciousness, there is a sound: “guun-to”. I don’t know what to make of that. Finally, the word above the little milk jug holding hands with the giant melon is just reminding us that the flavour is indeed melon.

Here we have another little explanation. “In the middle of the yogurt sweet, puchi-puchi melon-gumi chan!” The most puzzling part of this is the “melon-goomi chan”. “Chan” is like saying “-san”, an honorific following a person’s name (sort of like “Mr.” or “Ms.”), but for children or among very close friends. Usually girls. Very weird. Below this, there are little lines to the picture pointing out the “melon-gumi” and the “yohgoorooto kyandi (candy)”.

AWA-AWA

These treats I believe I’m actually going to eat. I’m not much of a candy eater (preferring chocolate to anything), but these look too scary to miss.

Here we have big blue bubble letters calling the treat “Awa Awa”. I don’t know what it means, and I can only guess that it’s some kind of onomatopoeia for something really freaky.

Above these big, foreboding words, the explanation says, “shuwa to oishii paudaa hairi!!” “Shuwa” is once again one of those attempts at English that I fail to grasp. But generally, it’s “shuwa and delicious powder inside”. Did you notice it said “powder” (paudaa) in English? Most wouldn’t.

Now for the exciting flavours of this delicious and shuwa powder.

Again, they are written in English. Let me translate the English into, well, English:

koora (red letters) = cola

kuriimu soda (turquoise) = cream soda

ramune (blue) = ????

So there it is. Awa-awa. Yum.

And just in case we couldn’t figure it out… on the very far left, it tells us that it is, in fact, candy (kyandi).

Of the three candies here, this is the one that I was most looking forward to tasting, because it claims to be “yaki-imo” covered in chocolatey goodness. This intrigued me, since I love yaki-imo, and I also love chocolate. I also wanted to see how they could achieve this yaki-imo treat, since yaki-imo is served fresh. And only in winter.

Yaki(fired)-imo(potato) is basically a kind of (purple) sweet potato that has been roasting on hot coals in the back of a truck for a couple of hours. The truck drives around playing the “yaki-imo” song (ah, if only I could sing it for you), so if you hear it, you should look for the truck. The skin is the best part; it really absorbs the flavour of the smoky coals.

So here is the treat, conveniently packaged for export:

“korotto haita
o-imo choko”

I’m not quite sure what “korotto” is, but apparently it’s put into the “o-imo choco” (honourable-potato chocolate). Underneath the big words is a little explanation. Apparently, it’s “yaki-imo-chocolate-covered pieces of sweet potato”. Sounds good.

For further clarification, they have kindly included a diagram of the treat.

In the middle, you have your cut up sweet potato. Then, you have a layer of the “yaki-imo chocolate”. I didn’t know that you could have fired-potato (I guess I could call it “barbequed potato”) chocolate, but I guess you can. Finally, it’s all covered over with a thin layer of milk chocolate.

The treats come individually wrapped, again with the promise that you have “kurutto” in barbequed potato chocolate. I did end up trying one of these. My mom told me that if I have nothing good to say I should say nothing at all.