Freedom Japanese Market Box - December 2015

So, my trek to try different snack boxes available to Canadians continue.  I have to explain why it took me a while to post a new one...there's a couple of reasons:

1. I ordered a Candy Box for the month on November, and I never received it.  Tried to reach out to them to ask where it was, and never got a reply...Fantastic customer service, right?  So, that said, I don't recommend subscribing to Candy Box.
2. Freedom Japanese Market Box ships from Japan...so, that takes a while to ship.  I got a message from them saying it may take up to 20 days.  The 21rst would have been the 20th day, and I wasn't expecting to get it until January because of the holidays...but this was a great surprise.

So, what is Freedom Japanese Market Box?  It's a monthly subscription that promises a pound of handpicked, unique Japanese candies and snacks.  There's different subscriptions available :

1. Puchi Pack promises 5-8 Japanese snacks at 12.99$ per month.
2. Original Subscription Pack promises 12-16 snacks for 24.99$ per month.
3. Family Pack promises to double the snacks in the original Pack for the price of 45.99$ per month.
4. For 3$ more per pack, you can get a gift subscription (one time shipment, no renewing fees): Puchi Pack is 15$, Original Pack is 27$ and Family Pack is 50$.

All these boxes come with free shipping.  Today, I will be reviewing the Original Subscription Pack.

First this I observed when I saw this box on my doorstep was how small this box is...but seriously, I judged its size too soon.  As soon as I opened the box, I was surprised to see how much stuff was in this box.  Not to sound like a walking pun, it looks bigger on the inside (lol..any Doctor Who fans out there? ;) I know, I can be corny sometimes haha)  Prices on the websites aren't very representative of how much you'd pay for the products at your local Asian supermarket, so I won't base myself on them to judge if this box was well curated or not.

Each box comes with a monthly origami (I think that is a neat idea.  If I decide to subscribe to this box in the long run, I'll definitely collect these).  On the insert it mentions that this represents the ringing bell in the Buddhist temples as one of Japanese New Years traditions.  I wasn't sure what this was at first but once I read it, I can definitely see how it resembles a bell.

 First thing I pulled out was this Lifeguard soft candy which apparently is a Japanese brand of energy drink.  This can be interesting.  It has the texture of a Starburst chew.  Says value of this is 0,49$ but I'm pretty sure they'd charge more than that if I saw this at the store.

This tastes exactly like an energy drink (that bubble-gum flavor that seems to be in all of these drinks).  Alex really likes this; he's on a mission to find more of these asap!

Then I pulled out this little guy...isn't the Santa Claus adorable?  This is Christmas Umaka which is seafood ramen flavored rice puffs.  And I can't find these online but I did find another review which showed me these are the texture on cheese puffs.

These tasted alright...the flavor wasn't too intense but that's ok since I'm not a huge fan of seafood flavors.  

And a Christmas Umaibo (omg! yay! I wasn't able to find anymore of these at the local Asian market and I am super thrilled to have another one).  Though I'm not sure what flavor this is, the insert specifies it is decked out for the holidays.

You knew I couldn't resist this.  It ends up being a chocolate covered corn puff.  Not as crunchy as the corn potage one but still quite tasty.

A Hello Kitty Lollipop, can't go wrong with that.  It is peach flavored, and apparently it also contains green tea extract.  I unfortunately can't have tea, so this will have to go to Alex.

 This is a bonus item, a Monster Stamp.  Apparently, you lick these edible stamps and add monster marks where you want.  Sounds cute.

And these taste like Sweet Tarts.  And yes, they do stamp.  Got 4 different stamps, which I shared with Alex...his reaction was funny...seemed a bit puzzled at the stamping.

And this is intriguing.  Ume Pachi is a candy that looks and tastes like pickled plums.  Apparently this is quite an experience and not to be tried if you're faint of heart.  Of course, I can't find these online unless in a review.  Looking forward to giving these a try.

These are pop rock candies and absolutely intriguing.  Alex and I both enjoyed this treat, even if a bit strange as a flavor.  I think I mind try to find other pickled plum candies out there.

This guy is a classic - Pocky.  I've never had these ones though : Winter Pocky's are biscuits covered in cocoa powder.  Sounds amazing.  These sell for about 5$ (or more) at the local market and honestly are quite enjoyed by both, Alex and I.

I expected a powdery chocolate mix on these pockys but instead it was a smooth dark chocolate.  Tasted great.

Ok, so the picture on this one had me giggling.  I love the pig doodles.  Butamen is a soy sauce ramen noodle cup.  I had no clue this was noodles right up until I wrote this post.  I'm so having this for supper!

I like Ramen so there was no way this would not be a hit.  I liked them.  The taste of soy sauce was definitely there but not too salty.

These Pure Gummy are heart-shaped, coated in sour lemon powder with a sweet center.  I love gummies, I love lemon, I love sour candy.  I have three for one.  Nice!  I'll definitely enjoy these.

And this, I have to say, is the item I am the most excited to try.  This is Styling Pop in Porcini & Cream Cheese.  For those unsure what Porcini is, they are mushrooms.  Sounds like a great combo and I know Alex will be intrigued by these as well.

This tastes like mushroom soup and I absolutely love it! I'm so going to buy more if I come across it!

This is a Secret Neru Neru DIY.  I've seen a bunch of bloggers and youtubers post about DIY candy so I'm thrilled to have my own.  Apparently, you mix the two flavors to make a cream soda flavored treat.  Not exactly sure what it's supposed to look like in the end but hey, we'll give this a try.  And I can't really find it online, but these usually aren't cheap.

This was pudding/mousse consistency.  Thought the instruction were not in my language, they were still easy to follow with the instructions.  Does it taste like cream soda? no.  It does taste good though.. the yellow one is more like a banana cream and the pink one like guava?  I'm not sure if I'm right though.  It is good.  Alex wasn't too much into it though.

This is Jaga Shio Butter which is a mini bag of potato chips flavored like baked potato: with butter and salt.  Sounds like a nice little treat.  And by looking online, I only get a bunch of pictures of buttered baked potatoes... so I can't find this one either.

OMG these was amazing!  If I ever get my hands on these again, I am buying more than one pack.  Soooo Tasty!

This is a small Tirol Chocolate - a tiny milk chocolate to satisfy chocolate cravings. This will not last long...;)

This one was chewy but tasty.   I wasn't expecting the chewiness but it was a great touch.

And the last item is a Hello Kitty Chocolate...again a small item but this will not last long.  Yum!  Since Hello Kitty is such a popular franchise, I can't really find this item online.. there's so many different Hello Kitty chocolates.  I'll enjoy this nonetheless.

This tasted fine.  Milk chocolate at its best.

So, all in all, I am quite happy with the curation of this box.  I got 14 items in total and I think I'll enjoy every single one of them.  Did I get my money's worth?  I think so.  I paid 27$ for this and I'd like to think that getting all of these items separately at the store would cost a lot more than that.  Plus, I get to try items I would not normally get drawn to.  That's what I like most about this type of subscription, trying out new things.  Do I recommend it?  Yes, I do.  If intrigued about how we enjoyed these items, I'll be adding my impressions once I've tried them to this blog post.  As always, any questions or comments are welcomed.