April Freedom Japanese Market Review

If you love Japanese snacks then you have to try Freedom Japanese Market! They send snacks straight from Japan to your door every month. Not Japanese snacks sourced from Japan and shipped from an address in the U.S., these are curated and sent to you from Japan.

*Disclaimer: This box was sent to See, Shop, Love! in exchange for an honest review.

Freedom Japanese Market was founded by the husband and wife team of Ken and Sanae, and their kids Juliet and Kevin work as their official taste testers! The boxes are always packed with Japanese snacks as well as an Origami of the Month! This one is so cute--it's a daruma doll, which is a round, traditional Japanese toy that is often seen as a good luck talisman.

They have three pricing options:

• Puchi Pack ($12.99/month) - This is a mini version of the original subscription box that contains five to eight snacks.
• Original Subscription Pack ($24.99/month) - Each box contains 12 to 16 full-sized and sample snacks.
• Family Pack ($45.99/month) - This has double the snacks of the original subscription.

Each subscription option has free worldwide shipping! You can also purchase one-time sample packs for $15, $27, and $50, respectively if you don't want to commit to a renewing subscription.

This is a review of the Original Subscription Pack box.

• Ramen Baba - This is an instant ramen that you can eat right out of the package, no water required. I've never seen this before; all the ramen I've had prior was dry and needed to be boiled.
• Karappa - These are curry flavored corn puff snacks. The packaging is adorable!
• Cheese Bit - I think I'm most excited to try these. They're crispy cheddar cheese flavored crackers.
• Umaibo Premium - The informational print out says that this is a "delightful combination of mozzerella and camembert" cheeses, but I'm not sure if that means it's like a string cheese or something else with those flavors.

• Train Chocolate (bonus item) - This is a cute little train-shaped box with chocolates inside.
• Frog Egg - This isn't a real egg, but a little gummy candy.
• Chocolate Coin - This one is pretty self-explanatory; it's a chocolate shaped like a 10 yen coin.
• Lemon Cheesecake Pocky - Pocky is so good and I've never had this flavor before. If you've never had Pocky, they're these wafer sticks dipped in flavored cream.
• Chocolate Pie - This has a crispy pie crust and sweet chocolate filling.
• DIY Dodotto TsubuPyon - I always see DIY candy kits in boxes like these and I think they're so fun. This has flavored powders that you mix with water to create sweet and sour jellies.
• Pachi-Pachi Panic! - These are similar to Pop Rocks and are a mix of sweet milk ramune and sour strawberry flavors.
• Dracula Gum - I could see this being really popular with kids, especially around Halloween. It's a cola flavored gum that turns your mouth red, so definitely not for everyday chewing (unless you're okay with having a red mouth throughout your day, ha!).
• Kit-Kat - Japan has tons of unique flavored Kit-Kats, and this one is green tea flavored. I've had these before and they're delicious.
• Ume Mints - These are sour plum flavored mints, which I think is interesting. I guess they're basically like flavored Tic Tacs.

The April Freedom Japanese Market box was full of great snacks! I love that they send things that aren't readily available in the U.S. Although some of these snacks may seem familiar (especially Pocky), there are often foreign-made versions for sale in the States that are different than the kinds available directly in Japan.

• Visit Freedom Japanese Market to learn more and subscribe!
• Connect with them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram

Bottom Line: I think Freedom Japanese Market is a fun and affordable way to treat yourself to authentic Japanese snacks! They always have a great variety of things to try.

March Freedom Japanese Market Review

Regular readers of my blog know that I love snacks, and I especially like Japanese snacks because they're so much fun (and delicious)! Freedom Japanese Market is great subscription that sends hand-picked Japanese snacks right to you, directly from Japan.

*Disclaimer: This box was sent to See, Shop, Love! in exchange for an honest review.

Freedom Japanese Market ships all of their products fresh from Japan, and most of the items are sold exclusively in Japan. They note that, although some of these snacks might seem familiar in U.S. or other markets, the "made for foreign market" versions are often made in third party countries. The snacks that Freedom Japanese Market really are authentic and from Japan (more on that later).

They have three subscription options:

• Puchi Pack ($12.99/month) - This is a mini version of the original subscription box that contains five to eight snacks.
• Original Subscription Pack ($24.99/month) - Each box contains 12 to 16 full-sized and sample snacks.
• Family Pack ($45.99/month) - This has double the snacks of the original subscription.

Each subscription option has free worldwide shipping! You can also purchase one-time sample packs for $15, $27, and $50, respectively if you don't want to commit to a renewing subscription.

As you can see from the customs sticker on the photo above, the box really does ship straight from Japan. I received the March Original Subscription box to review.

I was surprised at how many snacks were packed into the box! 17 total individual snacks were included, and they had a good mixture of sweet and savory. There's a print out inside, too, that describes each snack, so even if you don't read Japanese (I do not) you'll know what you're eating.

Each box also comes with a different origami piece each month, made by Freedom Japanese Market product coordinator Sanae. She and her husband, Ken, along with their two kids, Juliet and Kevin, are the family behind Freedom Japanese Market!

My favorite thing about Japanese snacks is the colorful and cute packaging! Here's what was inside:

• Lifeguard Candy - This is a thick candy paste that can be squeezed onto chopsticks or a spoon and then be licked like a lollipop! I'm a bad Korean--I haven't purchased any chopsticks since moving into my new apartment almost a year ago. I need to get on that. But, I digress--I haven't actually tried this yet, but it looks interesting!
• Puku-Puku Tai - I've heard of these fish-shaped wafers before and I was really excited to try this! It's filled with strawberry chocolate and it tasted so good.
• Tako-Yaki Senbei - I love senbei. This package had about five or six senbei inside, along with a syrup packet to pour on top. See the end of this post for a picture of the crackers outside of the package.

• Kurabete Neru-Neru - I've seen Japanese DIY candy kits all over the internet but I've never tried one myself. I still have yet to try this, but the candies are pineapple and melon flavored.
• Takenoko no Sato - These are tiny bamboo shoot biscuits coated in matcha milk chocolate. They're a spring exclusive and certainly sound interesting. The matcha milk chocolate sounds yummy, but I'm not so sure about bamboo shoots. Are they real bamboo shoots? Like the pandas eat? Guess I'll have to try them and find out!

• Umaibo - I love these puffed corn tubes! They remind me of cheese puffs, except these weren't cheese flavored. The orange package was salami and the yellow was yakitori (chicken).
• Whistle Ramune Candy - It's hard to tell from the photo above, but inside the package are three Lifesaver-like white candies. They are "ramune" flavored, which is not a flavor I'm familiar with, but I've read from other reviews that they're sweet.
• Umai Candy - These are little hard candies from the makers of the aforementioned Umaibo.
• Kirby Gum - I love Kirby! This is exactly what it sounds like. Little pieces of gum with Kirby on the package.
• Buta-Men Curry Ramen -  What a cute little ramen cup! I'm going to take this to work with me. Or maybe I'll have it as a late-night snack sometime.

• Chocolate Pen - This pen is a bonus item that has little chocolates inside.
• Smartphone Candies - Inside the package are a bunch of little fruit-shaped candies.
• Punch Cola - This is interesting; inside there are tablets that you drop into water to make soda!
• Rice Crackers (Yakiniku) - I love rice crackers so much and I reached for these right away! They had a light, airy texture and good salty flavor.
• Origami of the Month - March is graduation month in Japan, so this month's origami features a fancy kimoni with plum blossoms. It's really beautiful!

Tako-Yaki Senbei

Puku-Puku Tai

This box is so much fun! I love that Freedom Japanese Market sends snacks straight from Japan that aren't readily available in the U.S. I also like that they send a variety of salty and sweet things.

• Visit Freedom Japanese Market to learn more and subscribe!
• Connect with them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram

Bottom Line: Freedom Japanese Market is a great subscription box for anyone who wants to try fun Japanese snacks! The fact that they ship worldwide for free really makes this an affordable subscription that's well worth the price.