A review of the September 2023 TokyoTreat and Sakuraco Subscription Boxes! These boxes highlight the Autumn Moon Festival with a delicious collection of sweet and savory treats.
Disclosure: I received the TokyoTreat and Sakuraco September 2023 boxes in exchange for my honest review. All comments and opinions are my own. If you purchase something through the link, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.
I was recently asked to review TokyoTreat and Sakuraco! Since we got back from our Tokyo trip last month, we have been missing all the fun snacks. This was perfect for us to continue to enjoy those incredible flavors at home.
For September, both boxes celebrate the Moon Festival (Tsukimi, お月見)! Even the outer designs of the boxes highlight the festival with beautiful illustrations.
The boxes are available in monthly, 3-month, 6-month, or 12-month auto-renew (which can be cancelled or paused at any time) subscriptions with a price decrease for each longer plan.
Packing and shipping from Japan is included and available worldwide (excluding Japan). The arrival time may vary based on available shipping method.
It can take as little as 3 days for DHL or up to 60-90 days for surface mail depending on the country. My boxes arrived in about five days from Tokyo to the Washington DC area with detailed tracking down to the hour via DHL.
Most of the snacks are vegetarian, though a few may include meat or seafood- and will be noted as such in the allergen section of the guides.
TokyoTreat September 2023
We started with TokyoTreat! This exclusive Japanese snack box features 15-20 seasonal and limited edition treats with perfect combination of both sweet and savory flavors.
Our kids especially loved the fun variety with often hard to find KitKat flavors, Pocky, Ramune, ramen, drinks, and more.
Each box comes with a helpful 24 page cultural guide to explain the individual treats along with history, traditions, and notable facts surrounding the theme.
The titles of the snacks in the guide are written in English and/or Romanized Japanese. They also have a short intro with background information, a photo for easy identification, common allergens with possible traces, and whether the item is suitable for vegetarians.
TokyoTreat Moon Festival Snackin’
Our friends back in Los Angeles have a Mikan tree in their backyard and this Japanese Mikan Orange Juice was such a wonderful reminder of our time together. It was so refreshing, lightly sweet, and tangy.
The KitKat Chestnut were a huge hit with our whole family. The bag came with 10 mini KitKat bars coated in white chocolate with an earthy, sweet chestnut flavor.
The Soy Sauce and Sesame Senbei are extra crunchy rice crackers with a sweet soy sauce and light sesame flavor.
My daughter immediately went for the Grape Fizzy Candy. This fun candy has crunchy grape sugar crystals and ramune pieces. She said, “it is like snapping on my tongue!”
The Onion Soup Corn Puffs were another hit. These light and airy snack have a blast of onion flavor in each bite.
I loved the kinako coating on the Brown Sugar and Kinako Mochi Stick. This classic rice cake snack has a chewy texture that pairs wonderfully with the nutty soybean powder.
The Full Moon Rice Cracker is a treat inspired by the season with the round, moon shape. I loved the crisp texture with the sweet and savory soy sauce flavor.
The Black Pepper Potato Chips were such a delicious savory snack with flecks of black pepper scattered across the thin and crunchy potato chips.
The Pocky Winter Caramel were one of the Surprise Snacks in the box. Each box may have a different favorite snack. These were absolutely incredible with a buttery, salted caramel flavor.
The Sweet Soy Sauce Kibidango has a chewy, mochi texture with a sweet soy sauce flavor. The kids also loved Tokyo Skytree on the package after seeing it in person last month during our trip.
The Mint Chocolate Moon Pebbles were so fun! These little crisp chocolate candies have a texture on the coating resembling the surface of the moon with a subtle mint flavor.
While I loved the Black Pepper Potato Chips, Chad especially enjoyed the smoky flavor of the Pickled Daikon Potato Chips. These crispy chips are infused with iburi-gakko, smoked Japanese radish.
Chad also liked the Wasabi Fish Jerky. This treat has a chewy, jerky-like texture with wasabi seasoning in every bite for a bit of spice.
There were a couple of close contenders, but I think the Custard Flavor Choco Balls were my absolute favorite from this box. The smooth, custard-pudding outer shell gives way to a light and crunchy center.
Included in the box was one of TokyoTreat’s Top Noodle Picks. Ours had the Mito Style Udon! This thin udon style from Mito City has a light dashi broth with strips of fried tofu, green onions, bonito flakes, and wakame. It was a quick and easy lunch by simply adding boiling water to the bowl and allowing it to sit for 4 minutes.
Sakuraco September 2023
While our kids enjoyed TokyoTreat, I was particularly drawn to the more traditional and regional focus of Sakuraco.
This snack box experience highlights local artisan snack makers and curated tea pairings with 20 premium wagashi, exclusive treats, home goods, tea, and more.
Sakuraco also comes with a 24 page cultural guide to explain the individual treats along with traditions and notable facts surrounding the theme.
The titles of the snacks in the guide are written in English and/or Romanized Japanese. They each have a short intro with background information, a photo for easy identification, common allergens with possible traces, and whether the item is suitable for vegetarians.
In addition to all this, Sakuraco’s guide mentions the maker and prefecture of origin.
Sakuraco Autumn Moon Festival
The Tsukimi Dish created by the artisans at Bloom in Gifu is such a gorgeous and wonderful accompaniment to the Autumn Moon Festival box. It is also microwave and dishwasher safe!
It was so fun to see the Full Moon Cookie with the same style as the included dish! This gently sweetened cookie from Itokawaya in the Mie Prefecture has a rabbit and full moon design.
The White Chocolate Fruit: Strawberry is produced by FCOM in the Nagano Prefecture. Freeze-dried whole strawberries are soaked in white chocolate to create a gentle sweet and tart flavor.
The Peanut Arare from Naniwaya Confectionery in Niigata are crispy and light with bits of peanuts in every bite.
The Peach Jelly from Igar in Kyoto is another beautiful dessert that matches the Tsukimi theme. This light, two layered peach juice-based jelly is decorated with rabbit and full moon jelly pieces.
The Anko Dorayaki from Ichiei in Aichi were perfect for pairing with tea. These mini yam-based pancakes are layered with a sweet bean paste filling.
The Black Okoshi come from Nissindo Confectionery in Nara. These small bars are packed with peanuts, karinto (fried dough), and roasted black sesame seeds in an Okinawan brown sugar glaze.
The Usagi Marshmallow from Yachiyodo in Osaka was my daughter’s favorite in this box. This light and fluffy rabbit-shaped marshmallow has a rich strawberry jam filling.
The Hatomugi Tea is a caffeine-free drink made from pearl barley cultivated in Tottori. It had such a refreshing, lightly roasted flavor.
The Full Moon Soft Chew was another gorgeous and flavor-packed treat. As the name suggests, these little fruity bites from Midori Confectionery in Osaka have a soft, chewy texture.
The Chocolate Cream Danish from KOUBO Corporation in Nagano uses locally sourced wheat in the dough and is filled with a layer of rich Belgian chocolate.
The Black Sesame Mochi from Maruto Co. in Ishikawa were my personal favorite from the Sakuraco box. They had such an amazing, chewy texture with a creamy black sesame filling.
The Usagi Pon Senbei from Matsuoka Confectionery in Osaka was my favorite savory option. These crisp senbei have a blend of 5 types of flour and 6 types of soy sauce.
TokyoTreat and Sakuraco
Overall, we had such fun trying the variety of treats in both boxes this month delivered right to our doorstep. I personally preferred the beautiful designs and artistic quality to the Sakuraco box, while the kids loved the abundance of exciting flavors in the TokyoTreat box the best.
Both of these Tsukimi-inspired boxes are available until September 15th, 2023.
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