12 Cherry Blossom Snacks To Try From Japan Convenience Stores And Don Quijote

Klook Team

Last updated 8 Mar 2024

Taste the sakura fever!

The start of the year usually has cherry blossom and hanami fans getting geared up for the exciting sakura bloom around March and April. Over the years, the frenzy has spread from simply experiencing these magical delicate blooms to injecting them into popular snacks.

Now, you can also taste the sakura thanks to these ingenious inventions from drinks to chips, candies and more. If you’re making a trip to Japan soon, make a mental note of these cherry blossoms-themed products!

1. Sakura Kit Kat

Japan is known for its outrageous Kit Kat flavours and it’s no surprise to anyone that they would have sakura-flavoured ones. In fact, we found not one but 2 types of cherry blossoms Kit Kat. There might even be more we don’t know about!

Aside from the Sakura & Roasted Soy Bean and the milk chocolate flavours above, there’s also been Matcha Sakura and even Sake flavours in the past.

2. Calbee Sakura Prawn Crackers

If you’re a fan of Japanese snacks, then you’re no stranger to Calbee. Famous for their potato chips and various other tidbits, they also have sakura-inspired snacks. We managed to find cherry blossom flavoured prawn crackers everywhere in convenience stores.

Make sure to give them a try or perhaps bring it back home as souvenirs for your friends, family or colleagues!

3. Cherry Blossom YBC Aerial

The YBC Aerial snack is a type of layered corn chip, famous for their Tarako & Butter flavour. We suspect the sakura flavour is limited during the hanami season! If you’re looking for some crunch in your chips, this is the one to go for.

In a unique, almost pastry-like shape, we suspect this is going to be one snack that you will easily get addicted to.

4. Cherry blossom sake

It’s a universal truth that you should never drink on an empty stomach, so all the sakura snacks are the perfect pair for this beautiful cherry blossom sake! Each bottle comes with a whole sakura flower – perfectly preserved in full bloom.

Quite the popular sakura-themed beverage in Japan, you can also find this in markets aside from Don Quijote.

5. Suppamucho Chips Ume Plum Flavour

The popular Suppamucho Chips can easily be found in Japan and this one, in particular, is a plum flavour. Plum blossoms are one of the flowers you can find right before and sometimes during the sakura season. They bloom to become the famous Japanese Ume – sour plums.

When used in snacks like potato chips, it gives them the iconic sour-sweet flavour that you can’t find anywhere else!

6. Sakura Coca-Cola

You can expect the sakura Coca-Cola to come out every year with a different design each time. We have to say, we’re not quite sure how this will taste but just the look of the bottle itself is enough to make you want to try it.

7. Mike Popcorn Ume Flavour

Mike Popcorn by Frito Lay Japan is no stranger to coming out with unconventional flavours. Having come up with flavours like Indian butter chicken curry, takoyaki and clam chowder in the past, we’d have to say, the plum blossom flavour is one of the more subdued ones.

Other flavours you might like to try is their butter & soy sauce, salted seaweed, chocolate, maple butter and more.

8. Koikeya Sakura Potato Sticks

Potato sticks are one of the best snacks to have come out of Japan and when there’s a sakura-flavoured one, we can’t say no! Small and easy to carry around, this is the perfect snack to take in your hanami kit.

9. Sakura candies

For those with a sweet tooth, you can find an assortment of sakura-themed candies in convenience stores and Don Quijote. There are chewy candies and hard candies, flavoured with sakura or plum blossoms. You can expect the ones with the ume plum in the picture to be sweet and sour.

10. Plum Blossom Furikake

While it’s not exactly a snack you’d want to eat by itself, this ume furikake will easily transform your boring ol’ rice to something fun to eat. Furikake is a type of dry Japanese seasoning used to sprinkle on top of cooked rice, vegetables and fish.

In fact, you can go crazy and use it as a finishing touch to any dish you’d like whether it’s on pasta, tofu, sandwich or wherever your imagination takes you.

11. Plum Blossom Kaki No Tane

Kaki no tane is a common snack in Japan and they primarily consist of peanuts and senbei, a type of crescent-shaped rice crackers. They’re great bar snacks and we reckon would be perfect to go with the sakura sake.

While they can be found in different flavours like wasabi and pepper, you have to give the sakura ume flavour one a try!

12. Cherry Blossom Rice Cracker Snack

A variation of the kaki no tane, this is also a rice cracker snack which uses Japanese rice. These sakura special edition snacks also come with different flavours like dried shrimp & pepper and Japanese curry.

Sakura essentials in Japan

For more cherry blossom food & drinks, check out these limited edition sakura products! Lockdown those dates for your hanami by referring to the Japan sakura forecast. Need more inspiration? Check out the cherry blossoms Instagram spots! Get the transport for your sakura chase sorted with a JR Pass or make sure you’re always connected with a WiFi Device!

Japan

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