The Best Japanese Candy Ranked Worst To Best

The first candy we have on this list is the "Nobel Otoko Ume Gummy Candy." This candy is made by the Nobel confectionary company, who specialize in making candies with ume plums. Ume plums are bright peach apricots that originate from China, and have a more tart, bitter taste to them (via Just One Cookbook). Because of this, the fruit isn't eaten raw, but instead, used in wines, syrups, and of course, candy. The Nobel Otoko Ume Gummy Candy is made out of the flavor of pickled dried ume plums. They are a harder gummy candy, and are a bright red color, and coated in an ume powder.

These candies, while quite popular, are an acquired taste. They're a little sweet, but they've got a more prevalent, sour note to them, much like an ume fruit. The sweetness is a bit more subtle, according to some reviews, so it's less like the sugary candies you commonly pick up in stores, and more like a tart, pickled lemon. If you like the taste of pickled ume, then you'll likely enjoy these candies. However, if you aren't a fan of the salty sour taste the fruit adds to the candy, you might not enjoy this gummy candy. Regardless, it's still an interesting, unique candy, and it wouldn't hurt you to try them out if you consider yourself a daring candy lover.

There's a good chance that you've seen this next entry pop up in nearby grocery stores, in colorful, eye-catching boxes. The creators of Popin' Cookin Diy Candy Kits didn't actually start out as a candy company, but a cotton trading company in Tokyo in 1887. By 1964, the Popin' Cookin brand expanded to include food goods, which eventually focused on DIY gummy kits. These cute kits allow you to make strange gummy concoctions, like gummy sushi, ramen, tanoshii cakes and donuts, and more. The kits began to be sold in the U.S. in 2016, and since then, the company has continued to launch more DIY gummy packages.

The Popin' Cookin candy kits can be a little strange, depending on which pack you buy, but it's a good strange. It takes a bit of time, and paying attention to the instructions to set up the packs, but once you do so, they're a fun, sweet, and fruity way to enjoy a box of candy. The gummy ramen pack even uses a cola flavored broth, as well as gummy ramen noodles. Some reviews of these products admit that they're a little strange, and because you have to put the candy together, you have to wait a bit before you actually get to eat this gummy treat. However, if you have the patience, and want a treat that offers a bit more fun, then the Popin' Cookin kits are right up your alley.

You might be used to candy being round or in more of a square shape, though Meiji's Apollo candies take on a unique shape, while providing you with a familiar, delicious flavor combination. The candy is sold in a triangular, umbrella-like shape, and consists of a sweet piece of milk chocolate that is topped with strawberry-flavored white chocolate. The reason for the odd shape is supposedly because the candies were made to celebrate the success of the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 (as per Japanese Products Blog), and are based on the shape of the ship that landed on the moon.

Even though these candies aren't capable of sending you to the moon, it's safe to say that they taste out of this world. Like any good chocolate candy, you're hit with a rich, creamy chocolate flavor that practically melts in your mouth. You also get a wonderfully natural strawberry flavor from the white-strawberry chocolate, leading to a nice balance between that and the milk chocolate, which a review on Amazon notes, as well. The one thing that drags this candy down is the odd shape sits differently in your mouth, though it isn't a real detriment to the Apollo candies, and these sweets are a wonderful sweet to try if you ever find yourself in Japan, or even just if you're ordering candy online.

If you've ever been to the frozen dessert aisle of a grocery store, then you've likely come across the ice cream dessert that is mochi. American mochi is made by stuffing ice cream into the rice-based, almost marshmallow-like Japanese mochi. When it comes to this next Japanese candy, however, you won't find any ice cream. Bourbon's Mochi Truffle Ganache is made out of a chocolate flavored sweet ganache, and coated in a layer of mochi before it is sprinkled with a cocoa powder. Bourbon actually carries many different flavors of these small mochi candies, and some of the flavors they carry are only around for a short time, like their banana truffles (via Entabe).

In their chocolate flavor, these candies are a marshmallow-like delight full of a rich chocolate flavor. There are eight pieces within each box of this candy, so they're a bit bigger than your typical piece of candy. They're comparable to wagashi, which is a traditional Japanese dessert made with anko, a bean paste, mochi, and Japanese agar (via Japan Guide). Unlike the traditional dessert, however, the Bourbon mochi truffles are made with sweetener ingredients, like the flavored ganaches. This is a sweet, chocolate-y delight for chocolate lovers not just in Japan, but all across the globe, so if you ever get the chance to, we suggest trying these truffles out.

This sweet product is a candy with a name you may actually be familiar with. Hi-Chew is one of the most popular candies in Japan. Taichiro Morinaga started the Hi-Chew candy company in Japan in 1899 (via Hi-Chew), and from there, went on to become one of the most successful candy brands in the country. The actual Hi-Chew candies weren't actually created for awhile after this, though the predecessor of the Hi-Chew candies, strawberry flavored chews that would dissolve in your mouth, were created in 1956. The Hi-Chew candy wouldn't come to America until 2008.

When Junichi Tazawa, member of the Boston Red Socks, added the candy to his team's gum stock, the candy's popularity would only grow across the country (as per Sports Business Journal). The chewy, gum-like candies are full of fruit flavors, such as grape, kiwi, and strawberry. Though these candies are newer to the U.S., they still have quite the following among candy fans. With the strawberry Hi-Chew, one reviewer states that the flavor tastes more like actual strawberries than most candies, and is very chewy and satisfying. You can likely find Hi-Chews in many different grocery stores across the country, if they aren't out of stock — though with such a fruity, enticing flavor, we'd understand why this candy would fly off store shelves.

Another delicious candy we have on this list is Konpeitō. Also referred to as "kompeitō," this candy gets its name from the Portuguese word "confeito," which translates to confection in English (via Japan Crate). Konpeitō are small, star-shaped candies that are made entirely out of sugar, and colored in eye-popping ways. According to Taste Atlas, kompeitō was introduced to Japan in the 16th century by traders from Portugal, and from there, it became a classic Japanese candy that now features in tea ceremonies and as a topping for cakes. If you go to any sweetshop in Japan, there's a good chance that you'll find these sweet candies being sold.

These candies are essentially just sugar, and honestly, it doesn't need to be anything else. They're colorful, fun, and sweet, like any candy should be. We could definitely see ourselves using konpeitō as a topping for an ice cream bowl or batch of cupcakes. Depending on where you choose to get them from, they can also take on flavors like apple, peach, grape, or even just sugar. They are incredibly simple in terms of candies, but overall, they make for a fun, colorful sweet that you need to try to fully experience Japanese candy at its finest.

Kit Kats are a wonderful chocolate wafer candy, and though the sweet's origins are in the United Kingdom (via Hersheyland), there are a variety of Kit Kat flavors that aren't sold anywhere except Japan. One of the more popular Kit Kats you may come across when browsing Japanese candy websites is the Mini Strawberry Milk flavored chocolate wafers. This candy is made like your typical Kit Kat, with several light, crispy layers of a wafer cookie coated in a thick layer of chocolate — though this time, like the name suggests, the chocolate is strawberry milk flavored, and within the treat, the wafers are separated by a strawberry cream filling.

These treats certainly look the part, coming in a bright pink package, and the candy itself being a beautiful light pink color. They also taste just like strawberry milk, in the form of a chocolate-y Kit Kat. They're a bit smaller than your typical Kit Kat (hence the "mini" in the name), and if you get this candy off of Amazon, then you only get ten pieces in a pack. However, the sweeter, fruitier flavor of these Kit Kats is a refreshing spin on Nestle's original chocolate flavor, and it's a wonderful Japanese strawberry candy to treat yourself to.