Photo - Morinaga Pino Chocolate Covered Ice Cream

The package notes that this product was introduced in 1976.

Photo - Pizza-la Pokemon Pizza

Pizza-la Pokemon Pizza. This is a pizza aimed at kids and is split into 4 sections: seafood (shrimp, squid), margarita (basil, tomato, mozzarella cheese), sausage Monterrey (potato, mayonnaise, sausage), and teriyaki chicken & mayonnaise.

Photo - Nippon Ham Spicy Chicken Wings

These are fried chicken pieces coated in a spicy sauce.

Meiji's Milk Chocolate History

Meiji Milk Chocolate is celebrating 85 years and in conjunction with this there is a flash based overview of the history of this product centered on the packaging changes over the years.
Highlights:
- Introduced Sept. 13, 1926, when there was a lot of excitement about new things from the West.
- Meiji milk chocolate was the first to introduce a points on the packages which could later be traded for free product. This is described as added fun to the delicious experience.
- During the war and reconstruction years, products like chocolate disappeared thus there was a 10 year gap in sales 1942-1951. The bright red packaging is described as making the product stand out on the relatively drab shelves for its reintroduction, but as can be seen, the same red packaging was used before the hiatus.
- the 1953 brought television and Meiji was one of the first to create a recognizable melody to associate with the product.
- Valentine's Day was introduced to Japan in 1970. (Japanese-style Valentine's Day and White Day are topics for another day)
- in 2009 the new Meiji trademark was added to the package (following a merger between the two Meiji companies).

http://www.meiji.co.jp/sweets/chocolate/mchoco/history/

Photo is a web capture for explanatory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.

Photo - Lotte Choco Pie

Post - Shirataki or Devil's Tongue Noodles

This is shirateki しらたき 白滝  or Devil's Tongue Noodles from the Chichibu area 秩父. Devil's Tongue is also known as Konjac.

Yamazaki Ibaragi Specials

The Ibaragi limited specials from Yamazaki all contain Andes Melons from Ibaragi Prefecture and whipped cream. Andes Melons are very interestingly named. There is actually no relation to the South American mountain range. This variety of melon was branded in the early 1970s and were said to be more highly resistant to several crop diseases. Thus they wanted to name it anshin desu melon 安心ですメロン or no worry melon. This did not sound quite right so they changed it to a similar sounding word in Japanese andesu melon or Andes melon.

http://www.yamazakipan.co.jp/gotouchi/index.html
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%83%B3%E3%83%87%E3%82%B9%E3%83%A1%E3%83%AD%E3%83%B3

Photo is a web capture for explanatory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.

Post - Mingei Amazake

This is amazake or sweet sake to be mixed with water and heated. 民芸あまざけ

Photo - Nippon Ham Meat Pies

These are to be toasted for 3 minutes each.

Photo - Frozen Chinese Dumplings

飲茶点心 - yumcha and dim sum, 小龍包 - xiaolongbao or soup dumpling. The package emphasizes these are made in Japan.

Photo - Meiji Apple Flavor Kinokoyama Chocolates

The package says that it is limited to the Shinshu area 信州, which includes Nagano, but was purchased outside that area.

Sapporo Mugi and Tohoku Hop

Sapporo will start limited sales of its Mugi and Hop, its 2nd category beer brand, on Sept 5th. This product will use hops from the Tohoku region, it will be produced in Sendai (Tohoku region) and it will only be sold in the Tohoku region. Hard to say if this is related to last year's disaster or not, because regional special products are common in Japan, but I do think there is a general sentiment toward helping Tohoku in any way possible.

http://www.sapporobeer.jp/product/sapporo/mugitotohokuhop/index.html

Photo is a web capture for explanatory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.