What types of foods common to America are Rare/Non-existent in Japan? -

I have a Japanese penpal, and I wanted to send them something from America that is hard to find, or non-existent in Japan. Do any of you know any particularly ideal options?

I hear they don t have Pizza over there.

Maple Syrup Mozzarella Cheese

Liquorice candy is very rare in Japan. Black Liquorice is the best, I almost puked when I ate that a first time.

Ok, well first off good cheese, real pizza, you can get it with seafood on it, but for the real deal its going to cost you if you can find it. Beef can be a bit diffcult or expensive, resturants will have it but in a super market not so much. Lots of our snack foods are only exsistant in international markets, rootbeer, doctor pepper, they say it tastes like medicine. Ultimately if you are in a big city it is easier to find things than say in the country, but there is a website called www.theflyingpig.com I believe that sells goods in bulk that you can get some american stuff.

Elk Jerky Buffalo Jerky (www.smokedmeats.com)

As others have mentioned, there are items that are rare in Japan, but whether Japanese people actually will like or enjoy those foods is another matter. Root beer, Dr Pepper, licorice, and peppermint are not popular items. Once I gave out candycanes at Christmas, and while some kids liked them, most of the other kids thought they were disgusting and tasted like toothpaste. A lot of kids don t like chocolate candy either. You can buy very good imported chocolate in Japan, so those who do like chocolate can definitely tell the difference (hint** American choco is the worst!) I used to give out Skittles at school. You can probably buy them **somewhere** in Japan, but they were unusual enough to make a splash--the super sour Skittles were very popular. Or what about orange tic-tacs? Are those still on the market?

Oat Meals! I ve never seen it or heard of them eat it. Send your penpal a fruit flavored instant Oat Meals. I think they will love it.

Usually the foods are non-existant for a reason. Root beer and licorice!!!!!!!!!! I love both and both are rare in Japan. I ve also given Japanese friends both and for the most part they are both hated and thought to taste like medicine. Must be yummy medicine in Japan I say. I brought a bag of licorice to a get-together with at least a dozen Japanese in Japan, a range of people, kids, adults, artsy people, conservative people. They all hated it. And I mean real licorice, not the red vines or other non-licorice quot;licoricequot;. Black licorice. Root beer is usually only found in Meijiya and sometimes places like Village Vanguard or Sony Plaza for the adventurous kids who want to try quot;Americanquot; snacks and soft drinks. You can get it in Okinawa though, probably due to the military presence. Cereal could be a good one. The cereal selection in Japan in miniscule compared to Western countries. If you sent something like Lucky Charms they d go insane. I m guessing a lot of people would wonder what to do with it and wouldn t really believe it s for breakfast. Everyone knows Corn Flakes though. How about cheese in a spray can?

they pretty much have everything america has.

Do you realize that there is a organized group people who put a thumb down to all the answer in the Japanese section? These people are not Japanese. They are trained to hate Japan since they were kids.

Most American style foods are available in Japan. The ones that aren t available are usually things that don t appeal to Japanese tastes anyway. The previous poster mentioned root beer -- every Japanese person I know who s tried root beer hated it. (Actually, this is true of people from many other countries as well. Root beer is not an international favorite.) Of course, sending root beer through the mail wouldn t be very practical anyway. Same for many other foods and drinks. Candy may be the easiest and safest thing. Two kinds of candy that I know are rare in Japan are anything that s hot cinnamon flavored (not a popular flavor there), and anything that combines peanut butter and chocolate. Reese s peanut butter cups would probably melt and get squished, but small packages of Reese s Pieces might travel better. You might buy one of the Halloween variety packs that s out right now, or put together a mix of different small candy packages own. Whatever you choose, I m sure your pen pal would be happy to get some American candy.

powdered drinks (chrystal lite and stuff) grahm crackers and s mores PICKLES!!!! any kind of sweets (candies and chocolates) microwave popcorn they don t like artificial foods with artificial colors.... jambalya

Bison burgers...And it s NOT legal to send most foods over there. And YES, they do have pizza over there. All kinds of pizza !

Potato and corn products.

MY TEACHER TOLD ME HE HAD A EXCHANGE STUDENT THAT HATED CJOCALATE AND STUFF !!AND NEVER KNEW ABOUT IT BUT HE LOVED SNEACKERS WHAT EVER I GENERALLY HATE IT !!!!!!!:)P

Anything that is full of fat,sugar and salt and generally bad for you !

I know that peanut butter is rare. My Japanese friend when she came here loved the stuff, its hard to get in Japan. I also had a penpal in high school and we sent a package of stuff that the other country didn t have; i asked my teacher he said to send some peanutbutter candies (he lived in japan a while). So therefore candies like Recees, Snickers, Butterfinger, etc. will be really hard to get.