{"id":3071,"date":"2016-09-02T11:41:07","date_gmt":"2016-09-02T15:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.megancrewe.com\/blog\/?p=3071"},"modified":"2016-10-03T22:32:56","modified_gmt":"2016-10-04T02:32:56","slug":"a-month-of-japan-wow-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.megancrewe.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/02\/a-month-of-japan-wow-box\/","title":{"rendered":"A Month of Japan – WOWBOX"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a>Because A Mortal Song<\/em><\/a> is set in Japan, in the month leading up to the book’s release I wanted to celebrate some of the amazing media out there by Japanese creators. I’ll be highlighting my favorite books, TV shows, and films (as well as some snack box services\u2014you need something to munch on while you’re doing all that watching and reading!). You can find a full list of my faves and other resources here on my website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Snack Subscription Box Review – WOWBOX<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"wowbox\"<\/h3>\n

What you get:<\/strong> WOWBOX is unique in that they offer four different types of boxes depending on your snacking preferences, three of those in two different sizes. The cheapest box is $15 a month and the most expensive $35, and all come with free shipping to most countries worldwide. The available boxes include “New & Limited” (the latest and most exclusive Japanese treats), “Fun & Tasty” (a mix of playful, odd, and classic treats), “Kawaii & Beauty” (with a theoretical consideration to a healthy diet), and “Dagashi” (classic small candies and snacks). All of these are curated and shipped directly from Japan.<\/p>\n

Review of the box:<\/strong>
\nI requested a large “Fun & Tasty” box because it sounded likely to be a little different from the others I was trying, while still having treats I’d enjoy. The packaging and insert were a little plain (the insert included nutritional information, which the other boxes hadn’t)…<\/p>\n

\"wowboxopen\" \"wowboxinsert\"<\/p>\n

…but of course it’s the snacks inside that matter most, and this looked like a great lot!
\n\"wowboxfull\"As before, I jotted down my thoughts on each of the snacks as I tried them out and gave them a rating out of 3 (0 = nope, 1 = all right, 2 = quite good, 3 = OMG where can I get more of this?).<\/p>\n

\"wowsnack1\"Amijaga German Potato<\/strong> – These hearty potato chips had a satisfyingly crunchy texture, a light salt and definite bacon flavor, and weren’t too heavy despite their thickness. I liked them a lot! 3.<\/p>\n

Corn Potage<\/strong> – A fluffier chip, I found these to be lightly crunchy with a taste exactly<\/em> like fresh, almost creamily sweet corn. So good! 3.<\/p>\n

\"wowsnack2\"Pie No Mi Kiitigo no Cream Cheese Pie<\/strong> – The bite-sized hexagonal pastries had a fluffy exterior, but I found them quite dry and they didn’t have much filling to offset the dryness or provide the promised raspberry cream cheese flavor. I probably would have liked them more with about twice as much filling. 1.<\/p>\n

Papaya Lemon Choco<\/strong> – These candies came in individually wrapped squares. Each was made of white chocolate with a pleasantly light, authentic-tasting papaya flavor mixed in, and a marshmallow center that added extra dimension and a pleasing chewy texture. Unique but very enjoyable. Yum! 3.<\/p>\n

Umai Bo (Chocolate)<\/strong> – This long, puffy, hollow wafer with chocolate coating was a nice mix of sweet and salty, but a little on the bland side. 2.<\/p>\n

\"wowsnack3\"Garibori Ramen Spicy Garlic<\/strong> – A snacking ramen (no cooking necessary), these noodles had great crunch and texture, but the salty garlic flavor was so strong it was overpowering, and I couldn’t taste any other spices. I would have liked it better with a milder flavor. 1.<\/p>\n

Ultra Hlyarinko Ice Gum<\/strong> – I expected this gum to have a minty flavor, but it was actually sweet and mildly fruity, yet still with a bit of chill to it. It’s bubble gum and good for that purpose\u2014I could blow quite a large bubble before it popped\u2014but the flavor was almost gone after just five minutes. 2.<\/p>\n

Donguri Gum (Apple)<\/strong> – Artificial apple flavor isn’t my favorite, but this sweet treat wasn’t actively unpleasant either. After a few minutes the hard candy exterior gave way to a very sweet gum interior with not much other flavor. 1.<\/p>\n

Awa Cola Ramune<\/strong> – A clear cola taste and very fizzy on the tongue, cola lovers should enjoy this! I’m not a big fan of cola flavor, but I still appreciated the authenticity. 2.<\/p>\n

\"wowsnack4\"Petit Sour Cream Onion Sen<\/strong> – These wafers were light but with enough substance not to be too airy, and had an enjoyable creamy taste with a little onion spice mixed in. Some pieces were more flavorful than others\u2014the ones with the stronger flavor I loved. 2.<\/p>\n

Hunwari Baum Orange Chocola<\/strong> – This treat was basically a slice of cake with a nice dense texture and a light chocolate taste that blended well with the sweet orange icing. I loved this! 3.<\/p>\n

Gaburi Chew Strawberry Yogurt<\/strong> – This candy had a great chewy texture, but the strawberry and yogurt flavors were very artificial and kind of powdery tasting. 1.<\/p>\n

\"wowsnack5\"Doki Doki Puchitto Honey Lemon<\/strong> – Satisfyingly chewy candies with a great balance of sour and sweet and lots of tang. Mmmm. 3.<\/p>\n

Mitsuya Fruits Cider Gummy Mango<\/strong> – These gummies were a bit on the tough side, but the excellent mango flavoring was distinct without being overpowering, a little sweet and a little tangy. 2.<\/p>\n

\"wowsnack6a\" \"wowsnack6b\"
\nNyoki Nyoki Kororon (DIY)<\/strong> – The booklet offered a handy link to a video that explained how to make this DIY kit. The candy that resulted had a bit of an odd texture, crunchy coating over soft, gel-like cream, but I quite enjoyed the blending of the orange, melon, and grape flavors with the sweet creamy base. If you leave them a little while, they get crunchy all the way through. Very<\/em> sweet. 2.<\/p>\n

Purutto Jelly Orange<\/strong> – This was kind of like drinking soft jello: the texture was a little lumpy, which wasn’t super pleasant but not totally off-putting either. I enjoyed the mild natural-ish orange flavor. 2.<\/p>\n

Golden Saku Saku Panda<\/strong> – These biscuits had a lovely blend of caramel, vanilla, and chocolate, which combined perfectly while allowing you to taste all three. Great balance of icing to cookie, too! I finished the package wishing I had more. 3.<\/p>\n

Overall thoughts:<\/strong> This was my favorite selection of snacks, with lots of please both my sweet tooth and my salty\/savory tooth, and several treats I’d be eager to eat again.<\/p>\n

Overall snack rating:<\/strong> 36\/51, 71%<\/p>\n

Note: I received this box free in exchange for my honest review.<\/p>\n

Join me next week for more recs! You can read more about A Mortal Song <\/em><\/a>in the meantime:<\/p>\n

\"songnewestreleaseblog\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because A Mortal Song is set in Japan, in the month leading up to the book’s release I wanted to celebrate some of the amazing media out there by Japanese creators. I’ll be highlighting my favorite books, TV shows, and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.megancrewe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3071"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.megancrewe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.megancrewe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.megancrewe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.megancrewe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3071"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.megancrewe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3193,"href":"http:\/\/www.megancrewe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3071\/revisions\/3193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.megancrewe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.megancrewe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.megancrewe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}