Not one, but two biscuit boxes from Japan feature on this week’s Wrapper Wednesday!
Meiji’s Takenoko no Sato (Bamboo Shoots of the Village) and Kinoko no Yama (Mushroom of the Mountain) are theatre-sized boxes filled with little sweet, crunchy chocolate-coated biscuit snacks designed to represent little bamboo shoots and little mushrooms.
These shapes are quite popular in Japanese snack market, but Meiji are perhaps one of the best well-known brands to create such treats (also the makers of Hello Panda and Yan Yan stick dips).
A frequent theme found in Japanese confectionery wrappers are cute, or kawaii, mascots or anthropomorphized versions of the sweets, or ingredients, themselves. On these cookie boxes we can see just that! Little mushroom and bamboo shoot characters taking part in skiiing and ice hockey! Presumably these were promotional packets in preparation for the Winter Olympic Games in 2014 (if someone can translate this and let me know for sure that would be great)!
Japanese confectionery seems to exude this joyous, childlike enthusiasm on almost every wrapper -something I feel a lot of British and ‘western’ candy has lost over the last decade or so. My inner youth will always smile at these marketing choices. Candy should be fun, and silly, and bright and colourful. I feel these two boxes are prime examples of how candy should make us feel when we look for it, buy it and consume it…happy!
The British Candy Connoisseur 